Harry and Rose Potter Book One
by SylviaSnape98
Summary: Harry and his twin sister, Rose, start their experience at Hogwarts. They find friends, and enemies while trying to just make it through the school year. Books Two and Three are complete, book Four is started.
1. Chapter 1

The Potter family had always been a happy, wealthy family. Purebloods, but not concerned with purity, and powerful in the wizarding community, topped by no one. Fleamont Potter developed the Sleekeazy's Hair Potion, sales of which quadrupled the family gold (although never managed to control the Potter family's unruly hair). Upon retirement he sold the company at a vast profit. All while pampering his wife Euphemia, who managed the growth of their only son, who was, by all intents and purposes, spoiled rotten. This was one James Potter.

All was fine in the Potter home, they took in James's best friend Sirius Black, and commonly hosted the Marauders at Potter manor, always noting that one topic of interest was a pretty red-head in their year named Lily Evans. They kept the thought to themselves, but they had raised James the wrong way for him to ever catch an amazing witch like Lily. That's why they thought they were going to die of shock when James announced that he was dating her, and although shock may have been a factor, shortly after James and Lily married Fleamont and Euphemia fell ill with Dragon Pox, and at their old age died within days of each other.

Thus, Lily and James were left to raise their son and daughter on their own, in the midst of a war. Lily's mother and father while still alive couldn't be in contact with their magical daughter because of the war and the danger it would put them in. They did, however, become aware of the existence of their grandchildren Harry and Rose through the post that Lily often sent them. They died in 1981 of a muggle death, that no one ever bothered exploring or explaining.

Perhaps, though, they never had a reason or a chance too, because not long afterwards Lily and James Potter were killed by the hand of Voldemort, leaving their son and daughter with a title and a standard to live up to. Sirius Black had rushed to the house, and upon discovering the carnage took the children back to his house and let Dumbledore know who the true secret keeper had been, and discovered that the marauder he thought didn't have enough backbone to betray them had been the betrayer, and not the werewolf that he had been shunning.

That is what brings us to this instance, where one Sirius Black was pacing his flat anxiously as he awaited the arrival of his long ostracized friend. He had never been one to say sorry, and although he doubted that he could start now he would, at least, extend an offer to Remus, as an apology. It might also help that he held a piece of Honeyduke's finest chocolate in his possession that he would be gifting to his friend.

Finally a knock at the door. Sirius rushed to the door and opened it looking at the disheveled werewolf with wide eyes. Now that Remus was in front of him, and looking as bad as Sirius felt, he didn't know if he could do anything he had planned. Remus and Sirius stood staring at eachother as if in a trance until Remus raised his wand and pointed it at Sirius.

"Where were Lily and James living before…." He cut himself off as if realizing that this may be the wrong question to ask.

"Godric's Hollow." Was Sirius's choked reply.

Before either of them knew what they were doing they were embracing there in the hallway, their pain mingling with a power that only best friends had. Sirius was the one to pull back and lead Remus into the flat.

The flat was a mess, much like the man who lived in it. Then again it was in the process of becoming a safe haven for the two most beloved children in the wizarding world but it was still a bachelor's pad none the less. Remus shook his head as he looked around, realizing that nothing had really changed with the man although he now had the responsibility of a parent on his shoulders.

As if reading his mind Sirius broke the silence, "You know, you probably would've been a better choice as a godfather."

"You realize that with-" Remus started.

"Yes, yes, yes. With your furry little problem the Ministry never would have allowed it. Let's just be glad they didn't appoint Peter." At this the last two true Marauders shared a dark look.

"Speaking of godfather where are the kids? You haven't killed them already have you?" Remus said, falling back into the usual banter.

"Harhar. Very funny. No, they're asleep in my room at the moment. I'm just glad there is no accidental magic yet," both Remus and Sirius shuddered at the thought. "No, but I do have something for you Remus."

"I'm not taking your money." Remus responded on reflex.

Sirius smiled and shook his head before holding out the chocolate to his friend, "No, I have something better than money."

Remus quickly snatched the chocolate from Sirius and held it as if it were a baby, "It's beautiful." He said in awe.

Sirius snorted and shook his head, knowing that he was forgiven now if he hadn't been already. He then decided that he was going to broach a subject that he knew needed to be thoroughly explored. "Remus? Do you want to get a house together?"

This brought Remus out of his trance much like a bucket of ice water would. He sputtered and stuttered and made hand motions between the two of them before settling for what he knew he could actually articulate, " _What_?"

"A house. You and me and the kids. I'm going to need as much help as I can get taking care of them, and Rose has never liked me much."

Remus had been stunned into silence, which didn't happen often. He always had a response for everything as his social anxiety deemed it necessary. He didn't _like_ being caught off guard, especially not with a topic such as this.

Sirius, sensing that his friend was going to think himself to death shook his head, "I just thought you'd want to be around what's left of Lily and James as much as I do."

"Of course I do! I just… They're babies, and I'm… Well, I'm a monster. I can't just be around them all the time. What if I hurt one of them?"

"Oh yes, because you'd _definitely_ be around them when you were transformed, because I'm _that_ irresponsible."

Remus sensed the pain he had just caused his sarcastic friend and sighed, "You're not I'm just… What if they resent me when they get older?"

Sirius laughed at this, a deep belly laugh that he quickly had to silence when he remembered there were two sleeping babies in the next room. " _Resent you_? Oh Remus, where do you get this stuff?! It's comedy gold!" After taking a look at Remus's actually concerned face it was Sirius's turn to sputter. "Wha- you… You're _serious_?"

"No, I rather believe you're Sirius."

"This is not the time Remus. How could they resent you? There's nothing to resent! You'll be helping to raise them, they'll _love_ you!"

Remus took a deep breath trying to recognize the truth in what his friend said before he tried to weasel his way out again. "Well… I don't have enough money to go in for half with you."

Sirius laughed again, "You'll pay for your part by taking care of the kids while I'm at work and cleaning."

Remus became indignant, "I am not a maid!"

"Never said you were. But they'll need someone there with them, and you're perfect for that position."

Remus sighed and realized that there was no way he could get out of this one without risking bodily harm. "Fine. Yeah, I'll live with you. But I need a fortified shack or basement or _something_ so I have no chance of hurting anyone."

"Deal." And they shook hands just as a baby's piercing cry filled the air, quickly followed by another. They both rushed to Sirius's room and each picked up a baby, Sirius grabbed Harry and Remus grabbed Rose. It seemed that Rose had been the instigator and that the only reason she was crying was because she wanted attention. She calmed immediately and started babbling while Harry needed some coaxing.

"This'll be fun." Remus muttered to himself and Sirius snorted in response.

Remus and Sirius rapidly found a suitable house in Cokewoth England, unaware that they were not that far away from the nefarious Severus Snape. They, meaning Sirius, also bought Remus's cottage so that he would have somewhere to go for transformations that was less public. They moved in and with the help of the Weasley Matriarch made it feel like a suitable home for children.

After they had finished unpacking completely and the children were asleep in their respective rooms Remus looked over as Sirius and smiled slightly, "You know, I'm glad that you got me to do this with you. And I'm also glad that you haven't turned to drinking."

"Well," Sirius mused, "I would have. The only issue is I now have two lives relying on me. I can't drink away the pain when I could be drinking away their lives too."  
Remus raised an eyebrow, "That's very… Noble. I think."

"Oh hush you." Sirius sighed as he stood up. "I for one am going to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

"See you in the morning."

 **March 30th, 1989**

"ROSE!" Harry Potter roared as he stormed into the house that they shared with their godfather and Remus. The door hit the wall with such force that the pictures on the walls shook. One picture of his twin and him glared at him and crossed their arms. He was a rather muscular boy for his age, but it only made him lean, he could never build muscle mass. He had his father's messy black hair and his mother's green eyes. His sister on the other hand had their father's Hazel eyes, and her mother's red hair with the Potter unruliness.

His yell was met by silence and he closed his eyes blowing his bright pink hair out of his eyes. His sister was much better at pranking than he ever could be. Just last week she had turned his skin blue for an hour by spreading a potion on his broom that you wouldn't notice unless you looked very hard.

Sighing Harry went back outside, not knowing that his bookish prankster of a sister had actually wandered out of the house to meet a friend she had never told anyone about.

"Draco…?" Rose called out as she looked around the playground.

"Rose?" Draco's cool voice responded from behind her.

She spun rapidly hitting his shoulder without thinking, "You scared me!"

Rubbing his shoulder to make her feel bad he rolled his eyes, "I scare you every time you see me."

She huffed but didn't argue as she knew it was true and led him over to the swings. He had confronted her about being the girl who lived when she was six and had separated from Harry. Ever since that day they had become fast friends.

"What'cha thinkin about? You know I'm only in town for a week at a time and I don't know when I'll be back. Father doesn't like me hanging out in a muggle environment but mother says it's good for me."

"Yes Draco I'm aware. I was just thinking about the fact that we'll likely be judged for being friends in school."

Draco shook his head, as this had become a more and more common conversation between him and the pretty girl he sat next to. He didn't believe that she understood that he would never let anything separate the two of them, especially not something as silly as what house they were going to be sorted into.

"Listen, Rosie…"

"My name is Rose Draco." She said pointedly.

"Fine. Listen, Rose, nothing is going to separate us unless you let it. I'll do whatever I need to to stay by your side. I'd even hex someone."

"I understand that but-"

"There is no but. There only is and isn't. What _is_ going to happen is we're going to stay friends. What _isn't_ going to happen is that we'd get separated. Get it? Staying together, no separation."

"But-"

"Draco." Said a deep almost seething voice.

"Uncle Severus," Draco said as he stood up. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you. And who exactly… Is this." His question came out more as a statement as if giving Draco no room to answer as he was already being judged.

"Oh, this is Rosie." Draco said easily.

"It's _Rose._ " Rose sighed.

"Ahh." The tall man said. There was a ringing silence that surrounded them before the man glared down at Draco. "Come now, it is time for you to come back."

"But it's not even lunch time?"

" _Now_ Draco." The man hissed before seemingly gliding off although you could distinctly see him walking in his dark muggle clothing.

Draco sighed and turned to look at his hurt friend. "I'm sorry, I have to go…"

"So much for never being separated, huh?"

"Rose I-"

"No… I get it… Go to your uncle. Goodbye Draco."

And with that they went their separate ways.

Once she got home she dealt with the lecture from Remus for leaving without announcing it and when Sirius finally came home from the Auror department he congratulated her on yet another well done prank.

She went up to Harry's room that night and knocked on the door, knowing he'd either explode or let her in.

"Coming!" Harry yelled from behind the door.

When the door creaked open for her Rose shyly stepped over the threshold and when met by no yelling or thrown pillows deemed it safe enough to delve deeper into her brother's room. The room had a plush tan carpet, and the walls were painted a bold gryffindor red, which clashed immensely but for whatever reason pleased her brother. There was a large window in the middle of the wall and a door leading to a walk in closet that had been magically added. The four poster bed had Gryffindor bedspread and the walls were plastered with posters of various Quidditch teams. She heard her brother sigh and she looked over at him. He was sitting with crossed arms on his bed.

"I'd like to-" She started to say.

"Apology accepted." Harry smiled wryly. She sighed and smiled slightly, hiding her annoyance at the face that everyone was cutting off her sentences today.

"I was wondering if you wanted to prank Remus with me." She stated more than asked.

"I'm in."

 **July 31st, 1991**

The hoot of an owl was not an unusual sound in The Abode as Remus had named it. But today, the owl signified something new, something terrifying for the two adults. Sirius had almost spit out the orange juice he was drinking and Remus's fork had clattered out of his hand and onto his plate. They looked at eachother with sadness in their hearts, as their two adopted children were finally leaving the nest and moving onto Hogwarts. The unmistakeable green ink was there, and they sighed as the children took their letters into their hands.

"I guess a shopping trip is in order," Remus said meekly.

Harry yelled his excitement while Rose silently read her letter, thinking of a particular blond boy who was undoubtedly celebrating his acceptance to the same school, but without the comfort of his parents joy or a sibling's excitement. He was more than likely alone as he read it, and perhaps he was even thinking about her the way she was thinking about him.

Rose smiled at Harry's excitement of shopping with the Weasley clan, and she excused herself from the table to go to her room to write a letter to a friend she hadn't seen since that day over two years ago.

 _Dear Draco,_

 _Hey, this is Rose. I just wanted to write to you to tell you I have just received my Hogwarts letter, and I'm sure you've gotten the same thing. I hope that you are going to stay friends with me like you said you would._

 _Signed,_

 _Rosie_

Rose shook her head and closed her eyes knowing that if Harry or her guardians knew who she was writing to she'd be forbidden to talk to him, but having to take a chance. She also knew they would question the nickname as no one was allowed to change her name, not even those who had raised her. She sealed the envelope and tied it to her Barn owl Galen. "Take this to Draco, and please don't give it to him if anyone is with him." She said quietly.

Galen gently hooted and nipped at her fingers before flying off right as Harry walked into the room, "Hey, where's Galen going?" He inquired.

"Oh, I think he's going out hunting. I'm not sure actually, as he never tells me." She said, the lie slipping off her tongue easily.

"Oh, well we're going shopping tomorrow. I thought you might want to know that."

"Thanks. I bet you're excited to see Ronald again."

"His name is Ron. And yes I am." Harry huffed.

During the twins conversation about Ron, Remus and Sirius were sitting down in the living room with a bottle of firewhiskey.

"I can't believe it," Sirius said with his eyes glazed over.

"They _can't_ be eleven already… It's not six more years until they're adults. They're still kids." Remus sighed.

Sirius groaned and took a shot in response, "Hey, you would've gotten to keep seeing them even in school if you would just take the teaching job."

"Then who would take care of you? You don't know how to cook." Remus huffed.

"I could manage on my own. I've done it before."

"Yeah, just because you're too stubborn to die."

They both shook their heads and Remus went and put the bottle of alcohol away. They looked at each other in mild pain once more before going to get everything ready for the upcoming trips and the impending birthday party.

Harry, as usual, was struggling with his hair. He had not learned to just deal with its unruliness yet, and as such struggled with it before they saw anyone, including his best friend. His guardian's had promised he and his twin the best birthday party they had ever had, but somehow Harry sensed that his twin wasn't feeling it that day. For years she had carried a burden that only he could see, but he couldn't understand. He assumed she was just lonely, as none of the Weasley boys besides maybe Fred and George were her style.

That was how one Neville Longbottom had been introduced to their group. And while Rose liked him well enough, they didn't have the bond that Harry and Ron had. Harry sighed and changed from his comfortable pajamas to what muggles called jeans and a t-shirt. He heard his sister in the bathroom singing to herself and couldn't help but smile. Even though he knew she was lonely he also knew that she could always come to him with anything, after all, it's not like she was friends with a Malfoy.

Rose, meanwhile, was getting ready in the bathroom. She sang to herself as she started french braiding her own hair, a trick that she had learned from Mrs. Weasley and had practiced on Sirius numerous times until she felt comfortable enough to do it to herself. She sighed and finished the braid with a hair tail that she wrapped a black bow around. She should be happy, she knew, as she was eleven now, but she still felt a little empty without her best friend being there with her. Draco had promised to never let them be separated, but here they were, alone.

Slipping out of the bathroom Rose went back into her bedroom, her braid swaying behind her. She changed from her pajamas into a cute black skirt and a Green top that almost matched her twins eye color. She studied her reflection in the mirror before changing from the skirt to a pair of jeans, after all, it was her birthday and she deserved to be comfortable.

Rose took a moment to study her reflection in the mirror. She was shorter than her twin by half an inch, but her hair made her look taller than she was. The end of her braid reached right above her bum, and she loved how long it was. While she was not girly in many aspects, she could at least appreciate the effort that had to go into taking care of hair, therefore she kept it long. She had a heart shaped face and in the middle of her forehead there was a lightning bolt scar, one of the only things she shared with her twin. Her thighs touched, a fact she had been acutely aware of since she turned eight, but now that she was a little older she wasn't all that upset. Rose adjusted her training bra in agitation, not understanding why the annoying contraption even existed in the first place.

There was a knock on her bedroom door and she opened the door to see her twin in a similar outfit to her own, although his t-shirt was red. He smiled at her and casually leaned against her doorframe, as he had seen Sirius do numerous times. "Hey. The Weasley's should be here soon."

She nodded and looked at the clock on her wall. "Yeah, I'm aware. I'll be right down."

"Alright. Hurry up, though, don't want the twins to wait for you." He said with a roguish grin.

"Get!" She said as she pushed him out of her room.

Harry laughed and left. Ever since he had heard Mrs. Weasley tell Sirius and Remus that the twins had a crush on Rose he always picked on her before they saw them.

Harry walked down the hallway and down the stairs to the living room too wait for the arrival of his best friend. Rose on the other hand stared at Galen who now sat on his stand with a letter clamped in his beak. She quickly tore it from him, much to his indignation and started avidly reading the letter.

 _Dear Rose,_

 _I said we'd never be separated didn't I? I meant it then and I still mean it now. I just hope you're sorted into something other than Gryffindor because that'll make being friends with a Slytherin so much easier._

 _Signed,_

 _Draco_

 _P.S. Happy birthday Rosie._

Rose smiled to herself as she walked into the living room, now able to celebrate her birthday truly happy. She walked in right as the twins stepped out of the fireplace and into the room.

"Rose!" They cried together before engulfing her in a hug.

"Hi guys!" She said with a large smile.

"We would've come alone-" Started Fred.

"But mother insisted that you would want to see our siblings-" George continued.

"We tried to tell her we were all that mattered-"

"But she insisted that because it was Harry's birthday too-"

"We all had to come together." They finished together.

Rose smiled and got on her tiptoes to reach the two tall boys heads, "Thank you for trying to defend my need for quiet." She said with a huge smile.

"Oh no, you won't be quiet after you open _our_ present." They said seriously as the fireplace roared to life again and Ron stepped out.

"Oh no," They groaned, "It's started."

Harry started talking animatedly to Ron as they wandered out of the living room and to the kitchen, no doubt in an attempt to get to the food before anyone else. Soon after Sirius and Remus were shooing them out, though, and they sat rather disgruntled as they waited to get into the kitchen.

The twins were happily talking to Rose about their latest pranks, and Rose was doing the same before Mrs. Weasley came over and swept her into a giant hug much to the amusement of everyone else.

"Oh, Rose dear! How have you been? You did your hair, and it's done so well! I'm so proud!" She said.

Rose blushed under the attention and before she could reply Mrs. Weasley had moved on to do much the same thing to her unwilling twin.

Not long after they all packed into the kitchen and sang to Harry and Rose as they blew out the candles on their respective cakes, his being marbled and hers being red velvet. There was a clamor for food as everyone celebrated and soon it was time to open their presents.

Harry and Rose opened presents very differently. While Harry ripped and teared Rose carefully unwrapped and thanked each person individually. Harry was always the first one done, but they both knew that there was likely an equal amount of presents.

From Ron Harry got a thing of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. From Remus, he got a wand holster. Mrs. and Mr. Weasley made him pumpkin pasties. Charlie got him a book about taking care of his owl. The twins gave him dung bombs, 'so you can get your sister back,' they claimed. Percy gave him Hogwarts; A History. Ginny gave him a batch of homemade cookies. Bill gave him a couple of Galleons so he could buy what he wanted. Sirius gave him a broom care kit. And his sister gave him a Gryffindor banner, 'because there is no doubt about where you'll go.'

Rose had some of the same things. Their gifts from Ron, Remus, Percy, Bill, and Charlie matched, but they didn't mind. She still thanked everyone the same. Sirius had gotten her a box of muggle hair dye. 'You're hair color can't be real.' he explained. Sirius had also gotten her a bookcase that never ran out of room for books that Remus looked at jealously. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had gotten her chocolate chip cookies. Ginny had gotten her a book on how to do your hair with magic that was greatly appreciated. And then came the twins present.

The box shook slightly and she sat, staring at it unsure if it was safe to open. Only at everyone's insistence did she finally open it (although she refused to pick it up).

As she opened the box, which had holes in the top, she started trying to guess what it was.

"Toad?"

"Nooooo. Just open it!" they replied practically jumping from excitement.

Finally, the box was open and a cat's head popped out. It had bigger than average ears and its eyes were golden which contrasted beautifully with its black and reddish-brown fur.

"It's part kneazel!" they crowed excitedly!

"You got me… I mean… Are you serious?"

At the twins eager nod she launched herself at them laughing happily. "Thank you, thank you! I've always wanted a cat!"

"It's supposed to get bigger too," Fred said with a blush on his face.

"Yeah," continued George. "It's half Maine Koon."

"You're both amazing!" she said before kissing both of their cheeks making all three of them blush and she went over to pick up the beautiful long haired cat. "Does it have a name?"

"No." they both replied.

"Boy or girl?"

"Girl."

"Then I think I'll name her… Maple."

Sirius shook his head and leaned over to whisper something to Remus who laughed before standing up, "Alright everyone. It's starting to get late, you should all probably return home."

This statement was met with grumbles before Mrs. Weasley agreed and shooed them all through the floo and home. Sirius turned to look at Rose and the new addition to the family and sighed.

"I should kill those boys." he muttered.

"But Padfoot she's so pretty! And it's not like she's completely a cat so you'll be fine!" Rose said.

"She's still a cat, and I refuse to take care of her," he huffed. "But when you go shopping I'll give you a bit extra so you can get supplies for her."

"Thank you!" she yelled while Harry said, "No fair!"

Remus shook his head and raised an eyebrow at Sirius, "You're actually letting her keep it?"

"She got it as a birthday gift," Sirius defended himself. "And besides, it's not like she can have a dog at school."

Remus smiled, "You're truly growing up."

"Never!" Sirius gasped.

The Potter twins were used to Remus's and Sirius's antics though and walked to their respective rooms with their non-edible gifts in tow.

"What do you think your wand is going to look like?" Rose inquired before they opened their door.

"Obviously, it'll be cool just like me," Harry smirked.

"You're an idiot. You realize the wands don't care about your half-baked notions of how cool you are right?"

"Oh, the wand will care alright," Harry said roguishly.

Sighing, Rose walked into her room and looked around the comfortable room that she would soon be leaving. Unlike her twin, her room wasn't decked out in her future houses colors. In fact, there was a Slytherin green carpet covering her floor. Her walls were trimmed with black, and her walls were a dark brown. When she was younger she had decorated the walls herself, having loved drawing. It was still a work in progress in fact; whenever she was down she would doodle on her wall so she could paint over it to make it more permanent later. Her four poster bed was covered in simple silver sheets with black pillow cases. She now had a bookcase against the same wall that had her window in it, and she had a desk on the wall that the door was on. She smiled to herself as she got into her comfortable pajamas and Maple jumped up on her bed purring as she batted at a package that Rose couldn't remember seeing before.

Approaching it cautiously she looked at the tag attached to it. It simply read, _To Rosie_. Now understanding who it was from she tore open the box and gasped at the beautiful oak jewelry box that was in it. She slowly opened it and on the inside there were earing, necklaces, bracelets, and all seemed to be very expensive. She was looking at the jewelry when a bracelet that looked like a snake caught her eye. She smiled and slipped it onto her wrist, knowing that was how her friend was apologizing for being gone for so long.

Rose then laid down after putting her jewelry box on her desk. She slipped under the blankets and into the comfortable bed getting comfortable before Maple rested next to her hip, purring contentedly. Rose smiled at the happy cat before relaxing completely, "I could get used to this." She said to no one as she fell asleep.

The next day she was awoken by a loud hiss before she felt a pressure on her bed near her head and she was getting a sloppy wet 'kiss' on the cheek from Padfoot. She groaned and opened her eyes only to be met with the happy eyes of the dog in front of her. Maple was growling with her fur standing up on end at the sight of the dog, apparently not liking his sudden appearance.

"Sirius, that was rude," She mumbled as she slowly sat up to calm her cat as the dog transformed back to a man.

"Sorry kiddo. I had to see how the newest addition to the family reacted to me." Sirius said evenly.

"You're not sorry. Go away while I get dressed." She huffed and he laughed as he walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

After a moment of silence, Rose looked apologetically at Maple, "I'm sorry, girl. I didn't know he would do that to you."

Maple huffed in response and jumped onto her desk curling up and promptly falling asleep. Rose started getting changed and sighed as she remembered she was going out in public today. She took out the braid from the night before, letting her now wavy hair surround her as she stared with contempt at her closet. She knew she had to wear something good, because after all she was the girl who lived, other girls looked up to her. She sighed and put on the black skirt she had discarded yesterday and a pair of knee high socks with her Mary Janes. There, the bottom half of her was done at least. Now for the hard part. Frowning at the closet and taking clothes from their hangers she finally settled on a white button up shirt. She finished the look with a light pink robe.

She walked out of her room and almost ran into her twin. She sighed when she took in his appearance and rolled her eyes. He was in wrinkled black slacks and a red button up shirt with a black cloak. Noticing where she was looking, Harry, sighed and shrugged his shoulders, "Hey, at least, I'm wearing something, right?"

Shaking her head Rose walked down to the kitchen to the usual sight of Remus setting the table while discussing some mundane thing with Sirius. Harry was following her closely and was chattering happily.

"-and I heard that Sirius is getting a promotion!" Harry said in an excited whisper.

"Where'd you hear that?" Sirius inquired, his heightened hearing letting him catch what the boy said.

"Umm… I…" Harry sighed. "I heard it from you."

"You were eavesdropping." Remus deadpanned.

"Yes."

There was silence for a moment before Remus and Sirius shrugged, "Let's hope you never have to lie your way out of anything while at school." Sirius quipped.

Everyone sat down and started eating while Remus and Sirius discussed how to get to Diagon Alley. Harry and Rose just ate in silence while listening to them. Finally, it was decided that they would appear directly into the Alley right in front of Gringotts. With everything figured out, topics turned more towards the kids.

"You're sure you want to go to Hogwarts right?" Remus inquired. "There are other schools."

Rose smiled and sighed happily, "Oh Beauxbatons… But I am sure that Hogwarts is where I want to go. While Beauxbatons is beautiful it isn't nearly as good educationally as Hogwarts, and it's not like you'll let me go to a dark school like Durmstrang."

Harry rolled his eyes at his sister, "Yeah, the only real choice for me _is_ Hogwarts. I don't want to go to any other school besides the one you guys went to. I want to see Minnie with my own eyes, I want to explore the school and I want to meet Dumbledore, maybe even be dragged into his office for doing pranks. I want everything that Hogwarts is, and that's really important to me."

This statement was met by silence for a moment before Sirius wiped away a fake tear, "That was beautiful Harry."

"I didn't know you had that in you," Rose said with a smile.

Remus, meanwhile, smiled and shook his head, "You should write poetry when you get into school."

Sirius and Rose snorted at this but were silenced by Harry's glare. Rose glanced at Sirius and once their gaze met she shrugged her shoulders. The table was bathed in silence again until Rose asked a question that had been weighing on her mind for awhile now, "Sirius, Remus? What are your wands?"

Sirius smiled happily and replied with ease, "Twelve inches, Dragon Heartstring, Blackthorn."

Remus smiled also and looked at his wand that was next to him on the table, "Ten and one-fourth inches, Unicorn hair, Cypress."

Rose nodded and looked down, "Do you think a person can not be chosen by a wand? Do you think Ollivander won't be able to give me a wand?"

At this Sirius laughed and Remus glared at him reproachfully, "He'll have a wand for you, Rose. There is a wand for everyone."

Rose nodded and they finished eating. It was decided that Rose would travel with Remus, and Sirius would be with Harry so that there was little to no chance of splinching. Remus held his arm out to Rose and she gladly held onto it before the sensation of being squeezed through a tube overtook her and she and Remus appeared outside of Gringotts right next to Sirius and Harry. They walked into the giant building and walked up to a goblin.

"The Black vault please," Sirius said.

"Right this way, Mr. Black." The goblin said as he lead them to a cart that rocketed them to Sirius's vault.

Once there Sirius was the only one who went in and he scooped some gold into four pouches then came back out and handed each of the other three a pouch as they rocketed back to the surface and exited the bank. "Now, I know you kids want to spend loads of money," Sirius started. "But we're getting all of your school stuff first." Harry and Rose nodded eagerly, as now that they had their own money for shopping they felt like they were on top of the world.

The children walked into Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions while the adults stayed outside, no doubt watching the street for potential threats, but they didn't know what was inside the store.

Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve. "Hullo Rose and Harry! Off to Hogwarts already? I have the lot here- a young man is being fitted up just now, in fact." And indeed in the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. The twins had opposite reactions to this while Harry scowled Rose grinned at the boy and held up her hand in a greeting, showing the Silver snake circling her wrist.

Harry looked at her in confusion as she greeted the enemy, but Madam Malkin stood Rose next to him, as if sensing the animosity between the two boys, and set Harry next to Rose.

"Hello," Draco said, "Hogwarts too?" He asked, although he already knew the answer.

"Yes," Rose said simply.

"My father's next door buying my books, and my mother's up the street looking at wands," he said feigning a bored, drawling voice when in reality he was warning Rose. He did recognize the company he held though so he continued, "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first-years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."

"Yes, because you're just that special, Malfoy." Harry practically snarled.

"Boys, behave!" Said the scandalized Madam Malkin.

"Have you got your own broom?" Draco continued.

"Yes," Harry replied while Rose said, "No."

"Play Quidditch at all?"

"Yes," Said an increasingly irritated Harry, while Rose simply replied, "No."

"My father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"

"Gryffindor," Harry proudly stated.

"I have no idea." Said a suddenly shy Rose.

"What do you mean you have no idea?" Both Draco and Harry said.

"I mean... I could be a Ravenclaw... Or I could be a Gryffindor."

Draco sighed, "Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all of my family has been- imagine becoming a Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"

"There's nothing wrong with Hufflepuff Draco," Rose said with a sigh.

Before Draco could retort, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dears," and Harry, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the other boy, hopped down from the footstool. Rose was much calmer about the matter as she carefully got down.

"Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts I suppose," said Draco.

"I hope not." replied Harry while Rose said, "You will."

As they walked out Harry glared at his sister who he now knew was holding a darker secret than he could've ever imagined, "Why were you being _nice_ to him?" he hissed.

"You should be nice to as many people as you possible can." was Rose's simple response.

Harry was silenced as their guardians took them to Flourish and Blotts where shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all.

Harry had to be dragged away from _Curses and Counter-Curses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and Much, Much More)_ by Professor Vindictus Viridian. "I was trying to find out revenge for Rose! And how to hex Malfoy!" Harry tried to defend himself.

"Not today sport," Sirius said.

"Besides, you couldn't work any of those curses yet, you'll need a lot more study before you get to that level." supplied Remus.

They then went to buy a cauldron. Neither of the children were allowed to acquire a solid gold cauldron ("It says pewter on your list"), but they got a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope. Then they Visited the Apothecary, which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell, which was a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. There were barrels of slimy stuff on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and snarled claws hung from the ceiling.

While Sirius and Remus asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for the twin, Harry and Rose examined silver unicorn horns at twenty-one Galleons each and minuscule, glittery-black beetle eyes (five Knuts a scoop). Outside the Apothecary, their guardians checked their lists again.

"Just your wands left," Remus stated.

A magic wand... this was what the twins had been really looking forward to. THe last shop was narrow and shabby, peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window. A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Sirius claimed feigning tiredness. The twins felt strangely as though they had entered a very strict library. For some reason, the back of their necks prickled. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.

"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. The twins jumped. An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.

"Hello," said the twins awkwardly.

"Ah yes," Said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you two soon. Harry Potter and Rose Potter." It wasn't a question, but then again it never was. "Harry you first." Rose took an uneasy step back to the safety that Remus provided.

"You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."

Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry. Harry wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy. "Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it- it's really the wand that chooses the wizard of course.

Mr. Ollivander had come so close that he and Harry were almost nose to nose. Harry could see himself reflected in those misty eyes. "And that's where..." Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Harry's forehead with a long, white finger. Both Sirius and Rose tensed, although Remus seemed relaxed. "I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful and in the wrong hands... Well if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do..." He shook his head and then, to Harry's relief backed up.

"Well, now- Mr. Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"

Harry stuck out his right arm on reflex and Ollivander said, "That's it." He measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head. As he measured he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, Phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."

They had all been so entranced on what Ollivander was saying that they suddenly realized that the tape measure, which was measuring between his nostrils, was doing this on its own. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes. "That will do," He said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beech wood, and a dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. Just take it and give it a wave." Harry took the wand and waved it around a bit, but Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once. This went on for a good ten minutes, and while Harry was getting frustrated, Ollivander was looking happier and happier.

"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere- I wonder, now- yes, why not- unusual combination- holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple. Harry took the wand, he felt a sudden warmth in his fingers. He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on the walls.

Remus, Sirius, and Rose whooped and clapped and Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well... how curious... how very curious..." He put Harry's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious... Curious..."

"Sorry," said the ever impatient Harry, "but what's curious?" Mr. Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare. "I remember every wand I"ve ever sold, Mr. Potter. Each and every wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand gave another feather- just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother- why it's brother gave you that scar."

The twins swallowed and paled, understanding the implications. "Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember... I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter... After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things- terrible, yes, but great."

Harry shivered and stepped back as Rose stepped forward and trepidatiously held out her right hand. She was sure she didn't really like Ollivander all that much, but she let the process be repeated. Almost every wand Harry had tried made it into her hand but eventually she felt a tingle of magic in her fingers. She mimicked what Harry had done and brought the wand above her head and swished it down only to be greeted by the sight of Red and Green sparks lit up the room.

Harry, Sirius, and Remus cheered while Ollivander clapped his hands excitedly, "Yes, yes! Walnut and ice phoenix feather, eleven inches, rigid. Very powerful, very powerful indeed."

The twins each paid seven Galleons for their wands, and Mr. Ollivander bowed them from his shop. The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Harry, Rose, Sirius and Remus made their way back down Diagon Alley, through the magical wall, and into the now empty Leaky Cauldron. The twins didn't speak at all as they walked down the road; they didn't even care that many people were gawking at them on the streets, and they were apparated out of the Leaky Cauldron and back to The Abode.

The twins silently walked up to Harry's room, their meeting place of choice, and sat on his bed. Over the years he had acquired a few books and a desk, but then again he had also acquired more posters. As they sat on his comfortable bed they looked at each other, completely lost before Harry pipped up. "You know… They all expect great things from us… Even my wand is apparently 'great.'"

"And we don't even remember the event that _made_ us famous…" Rose continued for him.

"We have no idea what happened when our parents died… We don't know if you were shot with the killing curse first or if I was, and we sure don't know why." Harry said, getting increasingly frustrated.

Rose put a calming hand on her more impulsive twins arm and looked down, "We don't need to know, though… Do we? We'll be famous if we do or do not know the facts. We'll be famous for destroying Voldemort when we don't even know that he's truly dead… He could just be ashamed of himself and in hiding. We'll never know."

They both sighed and sat there staring at one poster or another before Harry smiled wryly, "So, how are you going to fit your books into your school trunk?"

Rose laughed and the tension filling the room dispersed as they excitedly talked about Hogwarts and what they thought it would be like, and how excited they were to see Hagrid again, (this had been the first birthday party of theirs that he had not been able to attend) and whether or not they would make more friends.

Over the next month both twins eagerly devoured their books, talking about what classes they thought they'd be best at. Their school books were very interesting. They often laid on one or the others beds and read late into the night, with their owls swooping in and out of the open windows as they pleased. Harry was fascinated by potions, and he often found himself wanting, almost needing to try transfiguration. Rose on the other hand was amazed by charms and couldn't wait for astronomy (it was a little known secret that when Rose was younger and couldn't sleep Remus would take her outside and tell her all about the stars).

Every night before they went to sleep, they ticked off another day on the pieces of paper they had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first, unaware that their guardians were doing the same thing, but with much more sadness in their hearts.

On September first Rose and Harry bolted down the stairs, too excited to sleep and too nervous to go back to sleep. Remus and Sirius smiled knowingly at each other when they came down to see Rose beating Harry at wizard's chess. After a hearty breakfast ("You can't just eat sweets before Hogwarts") the twins got dressed in their best muggle clothing and made sure they had everything they needed. Truth be told they probably had more than necessary because Sirius had gotten them both trunks that never filled, only weighed half their actual weight, and had many compartments for organization.

At seven in the morning Harry's and Rose's huge trunks had been loaded into the ministry's car while the owls flew and Harry and Rose stored their cages in their trunks. Maple sat in a cat carrier on Rose's lap, much to Sirius's disdain. Remus, Rose, and Harry got into the back while Sirius claimed the passenger seat to 'talk to the ministry official.' They reached King's Cross at half past ten. Remus and Sirius got Rose's and Harry's trunk onto carts and wheeled them into the station for them.

"Every year there's more and more muggles," Sirius sighed. "Not that I have anything against them I just worry about our safety."

"We know." Chorused the other three.

After Sirius 'fell' through the barrier with Harry, Remus looked down at Rose who was frowning slightly. He held her shoulder comfortingly, thinking it was just nerves from finally going to Hogwarts, and led her through the barrier. They got their trunks lifted into their compartment for them and Sirius and Remus stood there looking down upon them.

"You're sure you don't want to be homeschooled?" Sirius inquired.

"We have to learn stuff you're both not good at." Rose reminded.

"Yes… But…"

"Sirius, we'll write you often," Harry said with a smile.

"Am I chopped liver now?" Said Remus.

"No, just the regular kind." Rose slyly stated.

At this everyone hugged one another, as it was close to time for the train to leave. Rose hugged Remus particularly tightly, and they boarded the train. They were soon joined by Ron, who had a smudge on his nose that Rose got off carefully.

"Thanks, Rose," Ron said with a faint blush.

"It's no problem. I had to help Harry get ready too." She said with a smirk.

"Oi!" Harry yelped.

"Hey, Ron." The Weasley twins said as they walked into the compartment. "Listen, we're going down the middle of the train- Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."

"Right," mumbled Ron.

"Harry? Make sure he doesn't get into too much trouble. Actually scratch that, Rose, unless you want to come with both of us, watch these two dolts." Fred said with a wink.

Rose blushed and looked away shyly, "Yeah, I'll watch over them." She said while ignoring their indignant noises.

"I wish I had a brother." Muttered Harry while Ron laughed.

"No, you really don't mate," Ron said with a smile. "As your mate who has five brothers and a sister I can inform you sisters are much better."

"Thank you, Ron!" Said a happy Rose.

Ron grunted and blushed slightly looking out the window before continuing to talk, "You know... I'm the sixth kid of my parent's to go to Hogwarts. I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left- Bill was head boy and Charlie was the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Not Percy's a prefect, and while Fred and George mess around a lot, they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as all of them, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first..."

Rose looked at Ron in shock while Harry looked like he had heard this speech before. They were bathed in silence for a moment before Rose sighed and looked at Ron apologetically, "Hey, at least, they don't expect you to be all powerful because you destroyed Voldemort."

"Don't say the name!" Hissed Ron, although he did look a little happier.

Ron pulled Scabbers from his chest pocket and set him next to him before Harry and Ron started playing wizard's chess. Rose looked out the window when she wasn't reading her Charms book and realized the train had carried them out of London. They now were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep.

It was quiet for a time, none of them needing to say anything. Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"

Harry leapt to his feet while Rose rolled her eyes petting Maple who was eying Scabbers distrustfully. Ron's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. Harry went out into the corridor and looked at all the candy they had to offer. Realizing that he couldn't choose, he got some of everything and paid the woman eleven Sickles and Seven Knuts. Rose and Ron stared as Harry brought it all back into the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat.

"You can't be hungry Harry," Rose said in shock.

"I'm sharing, aren't I?" Harry said while taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty. Ron wasted no time and they both eagerly ate the snacks with Rose occasionally grabbing a sweet, still too engrossed in reading to be concerned with food.

Almost immediately after Rose entered the compartment, interrupting the boys conversation about Quidditch, the compartment door slid open again. Three boys entered, and Harry and Rose recognized the middle one at once: it was Draco Malfoy.

"Rose, Weasley, Potter." Draco greeted while Harry and Ron sized up the other two boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said Draco carelessly, noticing where they were looking.

"Why are you here Draco?" Rose said in confusion, making four of the five boys gape at her in shock.

"Came to check out what you're doing. I was bothered by one of your friend, Longbottom, he was looking for a toad I believe."

"He's lost him again?" She said with a sigh.

Draco shrugged, and held out his hand to Rose, "Come on, we'll race him and the bushy haired girl to see who can find it first." His eyes were glinting with challenge.

"Don't you touch my sister Malfoy!" Harry growled.

"I haven't touched her, yet. I'm letting her touch me, though. It is, after all, her decision," Draco said slyly.

Ron and Harry's vision narrowed onto Rose and she blushed bright red, wondering why she was being put into this situation before she sighed, "I'm going to help him find Neville's toad again."

Ron and Harry's mouths fell open as Rose grasped Draco's hand, letting herself be pulled to her feet. She walked out and started walking with Draco and his bodyguards.

"So, did you like your birthday present?" Draco asked eagerly as the four of them looked for the toad.

"Yes, it was _brilliant_ ," She said with a smile as she held up her wrist again showing that the silver snake was still on her wrist.

"You like that one?" Draco asked with mild shock.

"It reminds me of you," She said with a smile.

Draco held out his right wrist also and showed a watch with the same silver snake design and they smiled at eachother before Crabbe (or was it Goyle?) held out the squirming Trevor to them. Rose carefully took him and he calmed instantly. The four of them separated, Rose returning the toad to Neville, and Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle returning to their compartment. Rose quickly entered and swiftly exited her compartment, going to the bathroom and changing into her robes before she went into the compartment for real.

Ron and Harry stared at her openly as she entered, both of them also in their robes. It was getting dark outside, Rose could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train seemed to be slowing down, but Ron and Harry were just focused on Rose.

"Why did you-" Harry started before a voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

This was a sufficient distraction as all of them got nervous. Ron looked pale under his freckles. The boys crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and the trio joined the crowds thronging the corridor. The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way towards the door and out onto a tiny, dark platform. They shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and they heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! Alright there, Harry, Rose?"

Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads. "C'mon, follow me- any mor firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!" Slipping and stumbling they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville sniffed once or twice. "Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

There was a loud "Ooooh!" The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Ron were followed into their boat by Neville and Hermione, while Rose got stuck with Draco, Crabbe and Goyle.

"Everyone in?" Shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then- FORWARD!" And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

"Heads down!" Yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried the through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a king of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles. "Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them. "Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands.

Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door. "Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?" Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.

The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross. "The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid. "Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here." She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit The Abode in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.

They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. They could hear the drone of Hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right- the rest of the school must already be here- but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering around nervously. "Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like yur family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear. Harry Nervously tried to flatten his hair and Rose immediately started braiding her long hair. "I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly." She left the chamber. Harry swallowed.

No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need. Harry tried hard not to listen to her, while Rose listened avidly. They'd never been more nervous, not even when they'd got on a broom for the first time. While Rose fixed Neville's cloak, having fixed her hair, Harry kept his eyes fixed on the door. Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back and lead them to their doom.

Then something happened that made him and Rose jump about a foot in the air- several people behind them screamed. "What the-" They gasped. So did the people around them. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall.

Pearly-white and slightly transparent, thy glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance-" "My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost- I say, what are you all doing here?" a ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years. Nobody answered. "New students!" Said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"

A few people nodded mutely. "Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" Said the Friar. "My old house you know." "Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony is about to start." Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall. "Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me." Feeling oddly as though their legs had turned to lead, they got into a line, Ron behind a boy with sandy hair, Harry behind him and Rose behind Harry. THey walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors and into the Great Hall. Harry and Rose had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver.

Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Hermione whisper to Rose, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in _Hogwarts, a History_."

It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens. Harry quickly looked down as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Noticing that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, they stared at it, too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched, a rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth- and the hat began to sing:

 _Oh you may not think I'm pretty,_

 _But don't judge on what you see,_

 _I'll eat myself if you can find_

 _A smarter hat than me._

 _You can keep your bowlers black,_

 _Your top hats sleek and tall,_

 _For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

 _And I can cap them all._

 _There's nothing hidden in your head_

 _The Sorting Hat can't see,_

 _So try me on and I will tell you_

 _Where you ought to be._

 _You might belong in Gryffindor,_

 _Where dwell the brave at heart,_

 _Their daring, nerve, and chivalry_

 _Set Gryffindors apart;_

 _You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

 _Where they are just and loyal,_

 _Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

 _And unafraid of toil;_

 _Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

 _if you've a ready mind,_

 _Where those of wit and learning,_

 _Will always find their kind;_

 _Or perhaps in Slytherin_

 _You'll make your real friends,_

 _Those cunning folks use any means_

 _To achieve their ends._

 _So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

 _And don't get in a flap!_

 _You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

 _For I'm a Thinking Cap!_

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again. "So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to Harry. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll." Harry smiled weakly. Yes, trying on the hat was a lot better than having to do a spell, but he did wish they could have tried it on without everyone watching. The hat seemed to be asking rather a lot; Harry didn't feel brave or quick-witted, or any of it at the moment. Perhaps Rose was, but by her wide eyed and mildly panicked expression neither did she. If only the hat had mentioned a house for people who felt a bit queasy, that would have been one for him.

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!" A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of the line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause- "HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her. "Bones, Susan!" "HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah. "Boot, Terry!" "RAVENCLAW!" The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them. "Brocklehurst, Mandy" Went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Harry could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling and couldn't imagine what they'd do for his twin.

"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. Perhaps it was Harry's imagination, but he thought they looked like an unpleasant lot. He was starting to feel definitely sick now.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!" "HUFFLEPUFF!" Sometimes, the twins noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus," the sandy-haired boy next to Ron, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor. "Granger, Hermione!" Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head. "GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat.

Ron groaned. And a horrible thought struck Harry, as horrible thoughts always do when you're very nervous. What if he wasn't chosen at all? What if he just sat there with the hat over his eyes for ages, until professor McGonagall jerked it off his head and said there had obviously been a mistake and he'd better get back on the train?

When Neville Longbottom was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neille. When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "Macdougal, Morag." went to Ravenclaw. Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at one: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"

Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself. There weren't many people left now. "Moon"..., "Nott"..., "Parkinson"..., then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil"..., then "Perks, Sally-Anne"..., and then at last- "Potter, Harry!" As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall. "Potter, did she say?" "The Harry Potter?" The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him, and some openly staring at his sister.

Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited. "Hmmm..." said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes- and a nice thirst to prove yourself, not that's interesting... So where shall I put you?"

Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, _Not Slytherin, not Slytherin_. "Not Slytherin, eh?" Said the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that- no? Well, if you're sure- better be GRYFFINDOR!" Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. He took off the hat and walked shakily towards the Gryffindor table. He was so relieved to have been chosen and not put in Slytherin, he hardly noticed that he was getting the loudest cheer yet.

Percy got up and shook his hand, while the Weasley twins yelled, "We got Harry! We got Harry!" But their eyes were fixed firmly on the now very pale Rose. Harry sat down opposite the ghost in the ruff he'd seen earlier. The ghost patted his arm, giving Harry the sudden, horrible feeling he'd just plunged it into a bucket of ice-cold water.

He could see the High Table properly now. At the end nearest him sat Hagrid, who caught his eye and gave him the thumbs up. Harry grinned back. Ad there, in the center of the High Table, in a large gold chair, sat Albus Dumbledore. Harry recognized his long silvery beard at once.

"Potter, Rose!" The whispers started again and some of the guys stared at Rose with an intensity that she really didn't like. She stepped forward, put the hat on and sat carefully, sure not to sit on her hair.

While staring at the inside of the hat, she waited. "Hmm..." said a voice in her ear. "Difficult, but not as difficult as your brother. Plenty of courage, a good mind, there's talent, and like him a thirst to prove yourself, how interesting... But where shall I put you?" Rose felt a panicked sensation feel her, there was no way she could choose where to go when all of the houses were amazing. She then attempted to rationalize everything and thought, _Not Slytherin, not safe._

"True, true," mused the voice. "You would have a protector but that's not nearly enough… So Ravenclaw or Gryffindor?" Rose did her best not to think anything, and while her mind was spinning the hat finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Draco groaned while while the whole of Gryffindor house broke into even more applause and shouts. As she took of the hat and walked to the table she was swept into a crushing hug by the twins and then another one by Harry. Meanwhile more than one person was screaming, "We got the set!" She was blushing happily and turned to look at Draco, who nodded at her, understanding it wasn't really her choice.

Now there were only four people left to be sorted. "Thomas, Dean," a Black boy even taller than Ron, joined Harry and Rose at the Gryffindor table. "Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now. Harry crossed his fingers under the table and a second later the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" Harry and Rose clapped loudly with the rest as Ron collapsed into the chair next to him. "Well done, Ron, excellent," Said Percy pompously across Harry as "Zabini, Blaise," was made a Slytherin. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away. Harry looked down at his empty gold plate, he had only just realized how hungry he was, and he didn't understand how his sister seemed to be unaffected by hunger. Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there. "Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Harry and Rose both laughed a little.

Percy saying, "Potatoes, Harry?" Broke them out of their trance. Their mouths fell open. The dishes in front of them were now piled with food. They had never seen so many things theyliked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy and for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs.

Harry piled his plate with a bit of everything except the peppermints and began to eat. Rose grabbed every source of meat, the roast potatoes, carrots and some gravy and dug in. It was all delicious. "That does look good," said the ghost in the ruff sadly, watching Harry cut up his steak. "Can't you-?" "I haven't eaten for nearly four hundred years," said the ghost. "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."

"I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you- you're Nearly Headless Nick!" Rose groaned at his lack of tact.

"I would _prefe_ r you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-" the ghost began stiffly, but sandy-haired Seamus Finnigan interrupted. " _Nearly_ Headless? How can you be _nearly_ headless?"

Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted, and knowing what was about to happen Rose looked away. "Like _this_ ," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly. Looking pleased at the stunned looks on their faces, Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back onto his neck, coughed and said, "So- new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year? Gryffindors have never gone so long without winning. Slytherins have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable- he's the Slytherin ghost." Harry looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face and robes stained with silver blood. He was right next to Malfoy who, Harry was pleased to see, didn't look too pleased with the seating arrangements.

When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the desserts appeared. Blocks of ice cream in every flavor you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate eclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding... As Harry helped himself to a treacle tart, and Rose acquired a chocolate eclair the talk turned to their families. "I'm half-and-half," said Seamus. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mom didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him." The others laughed.

"What about you, Neville?" said Ron. "Well, my gran brought me up and she's a witch," said Neville, "but the family thought I was all-Muggle for ages. My great Uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me- he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned- but nothing happened until I was eight. Great Uncle Algie came round for dinner, and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when my Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go. But I bounced- all the way down the garden and into the road. They were all really pleased, Gran was crying, she was so happy. And you should have seen their faces when I got in here- they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. Great Uncle Algie was so pleased that he brought me my toad."

On Harry's other side, Percy, Hermione and Rose were talking about lessons ("I _do_ hope they start right away, there's so much to learn, I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know, turning something into something else, of course, it's supposed to be very difficult-"; "You'll be starting small, just matches into needles and that sort of thing-"). Harry, who was starting to feel warm and sleepy, looked up at the High Table again. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet, Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. A professor in an absurd turban, was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and swallow skin. Rose looked at him and paled slightly, and then it happened very suddenly. The hook-nosed teacher looked past the turban straight into Harry's eyes- and a sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on harry's forehead.

"Ouch!" Harry clapped a hand to his head. "What is it?" Percy and Rose asked. "N-nothing." The pain had gone as quickly as it had come. Harder to shake off was the feeling Harry had gotten from the teacher's look- a feeling that he didn't like Harry at all. "Who's that teacher talking to the other teacher in the Turban?" he asked Percy while his twin eyes him suspiciously. "Oh, the one in the turban is Quirrell. And the man he's talking to is Professor Snape." The twins groaned at this much to everyone's confusion, and Percy continued. "He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to- everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."

Rose and Harry shared a knowing look, and Harry watched Snape for a while, but Snape didn't look at him again. At last, the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent. "Ahem- just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, they third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Harry laughed, but he was one of the few who did, even Rose didn't laugh. "He's not serious?" he muttered to Percy. "Must be," said frowning at Dumbledore. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere- the forest full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us prefects, at least."

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Harry noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed. Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words. "Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!" And the school bellowed:

 _Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,_

 _Teach us something please,_

 _Whether we be old and bald,_

 _Or young with scabby knees,_

 _Our heads could do with filling,_

 _With some interesting stuff,_

 _For now they're bare and full of air,_

 _Dead flies and bits of fluff,_

 _So teach us things worth knowing,_

 _Bring back what we've forgot,_

 _Just do your best, we'll do the rest,_

 _And learn until our brains all rot_

Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest. "Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

The Gryffindor first years followed Percy through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall, and up the marble staircase. Harry's legs were like lead again, but only because he was so tired and full of food. His twin still seemed to have energy though, and he couldn't help but be jealous of her. He was too sleepy to notice that twice Percy led them through doorways hidden behind sliding panels and hanging tapestries. They climbed more staircases, yawning and dragging their feet, and Harry was just wondering how much farther they had to go when they came to a sudden halt. A bundle of walking sticks was floating in midair ahead of them, and as percy took a step toward them they started throwing themselves at him.

"Peeves," Percy whispered to the first years. "A poltergeist." He raised his voice, "Peeves-show yourself." A loud, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon, answered. "Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?" There was a pop, and a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks.

"Oooooooh!" he said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle Firsties! What fun!" He swooped suddenly at them. They all ducked. "Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!" barked Percy. Peeves stuck his tongue out and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head. They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armor as he passed, "You want to watch out for Peeves," said Percy, as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects. Here we are." At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress. "Password?" she said. "Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it- Neville needed a leg up- and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs.

Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase- they were obviously in one of the towers- they found their beds at last: in the boys dorm there were five four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pajamas and fell into bed. "Great food, isn't it?" Ron muttered to Harry through the hangings. "Get _off_ , Scabbers! He's chewing my sheets."

Harry was going to ask Ron if he'd had any of the treacle tart, but he fell asleep almost at once.

In the Girls dorm, there were four four-poster beds which hung with a vibrant gold silk curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Most of the girls were to tired to do anything, but Rose put on her pajamas, ignored the purring Maple and Galen who was pecking at her impatiently, and got started on a letter.

 _Dear Remus and Sirius,_

 _Harry and I both made Gryffindor, although the hat seriously considered Ravenclaw for me. I just wanted to inform you that I'm also friends with someone that you're not overly fond of… It's Draco Malfoy. Please don't send me a Howler. Anyways, I was writing to tell you that and that Remus, I really want you to rest, the new moon is coming soon and you'll need all the strength you can get, I know the new moon makes you exhausted._

 _I love you both, and I look forward to writing you more, unless you send me a Howler then I'll ignore you for a week._

 _Love,_

 _Rose_

She wrapped the scroll up and attached it to Galen's leg, "To Sirius and Remus." She said with a huge smile. As soon as Galen was gone she fell asleep though, with Maple curled up next to her.


	2. Chapter 2

"There look."

"Where?"

"Next to the tall kid with the red hair."

"The boy wearing glasses and the girl with the really Long hair?"

"Did you see their faces?"

"Did you see their scars?"

Whispers followed Harry and Rose from the moment they left their dormitories the next day. People lining up outside classrooms stood on tiptoe to get a look at them or doubled back to pass them in the corridors again, staring. They wished they wouldn't, because they were trying to concentrate on finding their way to classes.

There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that lead somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. It was also very hard to remember where anything was because it all seemed to move around a lot. The people in the portraits kept going to visit each other, and they were sure the coats of armour could walk.

The ghosts didn't help, either. It was always a nasty shock when one of them glided suddenly through a door that you were trying to open. Nearly Headless Nick was always happy to point a new Gryffindor in the right direction, but Peeves the Poltergeist was worth two locked doors and a trick staircase if you met him when you were late for class. He would drop waste paper baskets on your head, pull rugs from under your feet, pelt you with bits of chalk, or sneak up behind you, invisible, grab your nose and screech, "GOT YOUR CONK!"

Even worse than Peeves, if that was possible, was the caretaker Argus Filch. Harry and Ron got on his bad side their very first day when he discovered them trying to open a door to the third-floor corridor. He wouldn't believe they were lost and was about to threaten them when Rose came up, holding a purring cat and said, "Mr. Filch? Is this your cat?" And the surprise of someone getting along with his cat got them away scotch free.

Mrs. Norris was a scrawny, dust-colored creature with bulging, lamp-like eyes just like Filch's. She patrolled the corridors alone, but if you broke a rule in front of her Filch would appear, wheezing, two seconds later. Filch knew the secret passageways of the school better than anyone (except perhaps the Weasley twins) and could pop up as suddenly as any of the ghosts.

And then, once you managed to find them, there were the classes themselves. There was a lot more to magic, they soon found out, than waving your wand and saying a few funny words.

They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday and learn the name of different stars and the movements of the planets (Rose was amazing at this class, much to her twins confusion). Three times a week they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout, where they learned to take care of strange plants and fungi, and found out what they were used for.

History of Magic was the only class taught by a ghost, and it was very dull. So dull in fact that the twins (occasionally joined by the others from their year) just studied it from their book and slept during the class.

Professor Flitwick, the charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. At the start of their first class, he took the roll call, and when he read Harry and Rose's names he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight.

Professor McGonagall was again different. Harry had been quite right to think that she wasn't a teacher to cross. Strict and clever, she gave them a talking-to the moment they sat down in her first class.

"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," She said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

Then she changed her desk into a pig and back again. They were all very impressed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realized they weren't going to be changing the furniture into animals for a long time. After taking a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. By the end of the lesson, only Hermione and Rose had made any difference in their matches; Professor McGonagall showed the glass how they had gone silver and pointy and gave them a rare smile.

The class everyone had really been looking forward to was Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Quirrell's lessons turned out to be a bit of a joke. His classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone said was to ward off a vampire he'd met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him one of these days. His Turban, he told them, had been given to him by an African prince as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie, but they weren't sure they believed this story. For one thing, when Seamus Finnigan asked eagerly to hear how Quirrell had fought off the zombie, Quirrell went pink and started talking about the weather; for another, they had noticed that a funny smell hung around the turban, and the Weasley twins insisted that it was stuffed full of garlic as well, so that Quirrell was protected wherever he went.

Friday was an important day for Harry and Ron. They finally managed to find their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast without getting lost once. They hadn't been offered the Weasley twin's guidance like Rose had been.

"What have we got today?" Harry asked Ron as he poured sugar on his porridge, much to the disgust of his sister who was sitting next to him.

"Double Potions with the Slytherins," said Ron. "Snape's Head of Slytherin House. They say he always favors them- we'll be able to see if it's true."

"It will be." Chorused Rose and Harry, and Harry continued, "Wish Minnie favored us." She was the head of Gryffindor house, but it hadn't stopped her from giving them a huge pile of homework the day before.

Just then, the mail arrived. They had gotten used to this by now, but the first time they had seen hundreds of owls soaring above them the sheer number and variety had been a bit of a shock.

Hedwig had brought Harry one letter so far, while Galen brought Rose some sort of package or parchment every day. Harry wasn't jealous, but he was confused as to why she was getting so much more than he was. This morning was the second morning that Hedwig fluttered down between the marmalade and the sugar bowl and dropped a note onto Harry's plate. Harry opened it at once. It said, in a very untidy scrawl:

 _Dear Harry,_

 _I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have a cup of tea with me around three? I want to hear all about your first week. Send us an answer back with Hedwig._

 _Hagrid_

Rose had been peering over his shoulder and smiled, "I've already been down to see him. I told him if he wanted to see you he'd have to take initiative, I'm glad he took my advice." Harry rolled his eyes, borrowed Ron's quill, scribbled _Yes, please, see you later_ on the back of the note, and sent Hedwig off again.

It was lucky that Harry had tea with Hagrid to look forward to, because the Potions lesson turned out to be the worst thing that had happened to him so far, and while his sister was there to help, she also had problems.

At the start-of-term banquet, Harry had gotten the idea that Professor Snape disliked him. By the end of the first Potions lesson, he knew he'd been wrong. Snape didn't dislike Harry- he _hated_ him. Rose had remained very confused, as he took one look at her sneered while his eyes glinted with something and continued on to attempt to torment her and her brother.

Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than up in the main castle, and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls.

Snape, like Flitwick, started class by taking the roll call, and like Flitwick, he paused at Harry and Rose's names.

"Ah, yes," he said softly, "Harry and Rose Potter. Our new- _celebrities_."

Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands, although Draco was looking apologetically at Rose. Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they had none of Hagrid's warmth. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word—like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death—if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

More silence followed that little speech. Harry and Ron exchanged dark looks, and Harry felt foolish for having looked forward to this class even after he had learned who it was taught by. Hermione Granger was on the edge of her seat (more than likely anxious to prove that she wasn't a dunderhead), and Rose looked mesmerised.

"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

 _Powdered root of what to an infusion of what?_ Harry glanced at Ron, who looked as stumped as he was; Hermione's hand had shot into the air. Then a voice broke the silence that had filled the room, and Harry suddenly remembered he wasn't the only Potter in here.

"You would get a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death," Rose said, staring hard at the professor, daring him to challenge her more.

He did, "And where would you look if I told you to find a bezoar?"

"A standard potions kit of the stomach of a goat." At this point, even the Slytherin's were staring at Rose with shock, although one of their eyes glinted with pride.

"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

At this both Rose and Harry laughed, perhaps growing up with a werewolf was an advantage, after all, they chorused together, "They are the same plant, also known as aconite."

Snape's eyes flashed with rage, and he glared at them both before suddenly snapping, "Well? Why aren't all of you copying this down?"

There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Over the noise, Snape said, "And Ms. Potter you will meet me after class."

Things didn't improve for the Gryffindors as the potions lesson continued. Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mixing a simple potion to cure boils. By some act of god, Rose ended up with Malfoy, and Harry with Ron. He swept along with his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone besides Malfoy, whom he seemed to like (Rose knew that this was because he was an uncle of sorts to Draco). He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Malfoy had stewed his horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeons. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.

"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with a wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"

Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.

"Take him to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Seamus. Then he rounded on Harry and Ron, who had been working next to Neville.

"You- Potter- why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's a point from Gryffindor."

This was so unfair that Harry opened his mouth to argue, only to be stopped by Ron. Rose's hands were shaking while Draco attempted to wordlessly calm her.

An hour later Rose watched as everyone packed up and left while she only packed up. She knew what she was going to do, it was what Snape was going to do that was the question.

"Ms. Potter," Snape began. "How did you know all that?" Snape said calmly.

This startled Rose. She had thought that this was going to be a 'balls to the wall' sort of situation as Sirius would say, but he was curious about how she knew that. Rose looked in his general direction but refused to meet his eyes as she pulled her hair into a ponytail, accidentally making herself look more like her mother, who she already greatly resembled. "Well, I read the books," She said simply.

"Which books?" Snape knew that those facts hadn't _been_ in first-year potions books. He also knew that Ms. Granger had read all of the books above their year too. What he needed to know, was how she had acquired them.

"All of them," Rose said simply while crossing her arms. Severus recognized a challenge when he saw one, and although his head was telling him to back down and that she was only an eleven-year-old girl, he had to know just _which_ books she had read.

"Tell me-" and for the first time in his long menacing life as a professor, a student interrupted him.

"I'll tell you if you give Gryffindor that point back."

Her demand was met by silence. Severus was blindsided by her request, and the only thing that kept the shock off of his face was his skill in Occlumency.

" _What?_ " He hissed dangerously.

"You heard me. You could even give me detention if you like. But I know when something is unfair, and I'm _sure_ Dumbledore, while wise, does _not_ expect this sort of behaviour out of you; and I'll even go _farther_ and say that he knows why you would treat one twin that way and not the other if you know what I mean." Lily's face was turning pink from rage, as her mother's had once done, and Severus knew that he was backed into a corner. Rose, on the other hand, wasn't done. "I know that you loved her… You just admitted it to me… Asphodel and Wormwood. Wormwood is a very bitter root, and Asphodel is a type of lily. These two create the Draught of Living Death. If I'm not mistaking by your eyes, you seem dead inside." Snape at this point had gone wide-eyed, how was this child reading into him, he went to open his mouth, but Rose pushed on, "Asphodel symbolically means death, specifically the death of someone beloved to the person who offers asphodel. Asphodel is also a lily. Wormwood symbolically means bitter sorrow. So in essence, you asked if we knew what death wrapped in bitter sorrow is. Or put another way, you might be trying to tell Harry and I that he loved our mum and that you bitterly regret her death." At this Rose stood back and watched the man wearily, knowing she had crossed many lines in that little spiel.

"You know _nothing_ about me." He spat.

"Don't I? I have read my mum's diary, which only opens for me. I've read what happened in your fifth year, and I know many things that you don't." Rose's eyes glinted and she opened her mouth and started reciting a passage, "Today Severus called me a Mudblood after I saved him from the arrogant bullying toerag. But now, couldn't I call Severus the same? He came to the tower, begging for forgiveness, but didn't deny still wanting to join the Death Eaters. It must mean he doesn't know what's wrong with them. Perhaps if I stop talking to him he'll learn from his mistakes and-"

"ENOUGH!" Bellowed Snape. "How _dare_ you talk to me like this?"

"How dare you take a point away from a boy because he looks like his father?"

"Get out." And with that, Rose turned with a victorious smirk on her face and grabbed her things as she left.

There, against the wall opposite the door, she found Draco waiting for her. He smirked at her and stood straight from where he had previously been leaning against the wall.

"Hey," He said to her as he offered her his arm.

"Hullo," She said as she grasped his arm.

Together they walked to the same tree that had caused so many issues for their Potions professor and they sat down. She was looking out at the Black Lake when Draco sighed, and she turned her attention back to him.  
"You know, he's still my uncle," Draco said.

"I'm aware."

"And I can try to-"

"No, Draco, this is Harry's and mine battle to fight. I won't let you try to fight it for us, it would probably just make him more mad anyways."

Draco nodded and frowned slightly at her, "Hey, wasn't your hair down earlier?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah! I put it up when I was arguing with Snape."

Draco rolled his eyes and they sat there in a companionable silence until about 3:30 when they started walking back up to the castle. They both went to their separate common rooms, Rose needing to write a letter to her guardians and Draco needing to think about how much he cared about his.

Rose quickly scrawled out a letter to her favorite guardian, Remus, and another short one to Sirius, both containing pretty much the same information: she had confronted Snape.

Rose walked down to the Great Hall, meeting with Harry and Ron and they all walked in and sat at the table enjoying a dinner of various meats and vegetables. Near the end of dinner, Rose pulled Harry aside and told him the truth about Severus Snape and Harry sat dumbfounded before agreeing not to hate the man too much. He was just glad that he hadn't ended up being his father.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry always had, and always would despise the existence of Draco Malfoy. He was the poster child for Slytherin and the child of a well-known Death Eater who had escaped punishment. It didn't help Draco's case that he had somehow 'bewitched' the Boy-who-lived sister and Harry was just glad that he didn't have to deal with him much. That was until he saw the notice pinned up in the Gryffindor common room. Flying lessons would be starting on Thursday- and Gryffindor and Slytherin would be learning together.

"Typical," said Harry darkly. "This is just what I've always wanted."

He had been looking forward to flying lessons the most, he wanted to show off what he already knew, but with Malfoy there he would have to deal with him constantly being talked down to.

"You know, he's always saying how good he is at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk. So don't worry, he'll get what's coming to him." Ron said as Rose walked up behind him.

"Who'll get what's coming to them?" she asked.

They both jumped and before Harry could silence him Ron said, "Draco."

Rose sighed and rubbed her temples, "And how do you propose this will happen?"

"Flying lessons," Harry said.

Rose paled at this and stared at her twin wide-eyed before swiftly pulling him away from his best friend, "What do you mean flying lessons?" She said with panic laced into her voice.

"Rose, you're great at flying I don't understand why you're so worried," He said as he ran his fingers through his hair. "I mean, It'll be fine, I'm sure of it."

"You don't know that! What if I fall? What if I make a fool of myself! You know I can't stand Quidditch, why do I now have to know how to fly?!"

Harry rolled his eyes and patted his twin's shoulder, "You won't fail more than Neville, I'm sure of it."

"Be nice!"

Harry walked back to his best friend, and Rose did have to silently agree with him. Neville had never been let near a broom, let alone been on one. So she was already doing better than him. And because Hermione was trying to learn this out of a book, which you couldn't, Rose was already doing better than her too. She sighed, having to let this information calm her down, although she felt guilty for it calming her.

At breakfast on Thursday Harry and Ron rolled their eyes as Hermione bored them with facts from Quidditch Through the Ages. Neville hung onto her every word, and Harry noticed that he and Rose were sitting abnormally close together, a fact that Draco Malfoy didn't miss either. Everyone was very pleased when Hermione's lecture was interrupted by the arrival of the mail.

Harry had had very few letters since Hagrid's note, compared to his twins almost daily mail, but today Harry had gotten a batch of Remus's double chocolate chips with a note that said not to share them with his twin.

A barn owl brought Neville a small package from his grandmother. He opened it excitedly and showed them a glass ball the size of a large marble, which seemed to be full of white smoke.

"It's a Remembrall!" he explained. "Gran knows I forget things- this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red- oh…" His face fell because the Remembrall had suddenly glowed scarlet, "... you've forgotten something…"

Neville was trying to remember what he'd forgotten with the help of Rose when Draco, who was passing the Gryffindor table, snatched the Remembrall out of his hand.

Harry and Ron jumped to their feet. They were half hoping for a reason to fight Malfoy, but Professor McGonagall, who could spot trouble quicker than any teacher in the school, was there in a flash.

"What's going on?"

"Malfoy's got my Remembrall, Professor."

Scowling, Malfoy quickly dropped the Remembrall back on the table.

"Just looking," he said as he sloped away with Crabbe and Goyle behind him. Rose was about to follow him when the twins whisked her into a conversation about their latest prank idea.

At three-thirty, that afternoon, Harry, Ron, Rose, and the other Gryffindors hurried down the front steps onto the grounds for their first flying lesson. It was a clear, breezy day, and the grass rippled under their feet as they marched down the sloping lawns toward a smooth, flat lawn on the opposite side of the grounds to the forbidden forest, whose trees were swaying darkly in the distance.

The Slytherins were already there, and so were twenty broomsticks lying in neat lines on the ground. Harry had heard Fred and George Weasley complain about the school brooms, saying that some of them started to vibrate if you flew too high, or always flew slightly to the left.

Their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, gray hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk.

"Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."

Harry glanced down at his broom. It was old and some of the twigs stuck out at odd angles. Rose's wasn't fairing much better.

"Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say 'Up!'"

"UP!" everyone shouted.

Harry's broom jumped to his hand at once, as did Rose's, but theirs were a couple of the few that did. Hermione Granger's had simply rolled over on the ground, and Neville's hadn't moved at all. Perhaps some brooms, like horses, could tell when you were afraid; there was a quaver in Neville's voice that said only too clearly that he wanted to keep his feet on the ground. At least, Rose had been able to fake confidence.

Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips. Harry and Ron were delighted when she told Malfoy he'd been doing it wrong for years, but Rose felt bad for him.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle- three- two-"

But Neville, nervous and jumpy and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips.

"Come back, boy!" she shouted, but Neville was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle- twelve feet- twenty feet. Rose hid her head on Harry's shoulder, almost as if she knew what was coming. Harry saw Neville's scared white face look down at the ground falling away, saw him gasp, slip sideways off the broom and -

WHAM- a thud and a nasty crack and Neville lay facedown on the grass in a heap. His broomstick was still rising higher and higher, started to drift lazily toward the forbidden forest and out of sight.

Madam Hooch was bending over Neville, her face as white as his.  
"Broken wrist," the twins heard her mutter. "Come on, boy- it's all right, up you get."

She turned to the rest of the class.

"None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dear."

Neville, his face tear-streaked, clutching his wrist, hobbled off with Madam Hooch, who had her arm around him.

No sooner were they out of earshot than Draco burst into laughter. "Did you see his face, the great lump?" The other Slytherins joined in.

"Shut up Malfoy," snapped Rose.

"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" said Pansy Parkinson, a hard-faced Slytherin girl. "Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Rose."

"Look!" said Malfoy, sensing a fight but wanting to be part of his own, as he darted forward and snatched something out of the grass. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's Gran sent him."

The Remembrall glittered in the sun as he held it up.

"Give that here, Malfoy," said Harry quietly. Everyone stopped talking to watch.

Malfoy smiled nastily.

"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find- how about- up a tree?"

"Give it here!" Both Rose and Harry yelled, but Malfoy had leapt onto his broomstick and taken off. He hadn't been lying, he could fly well. Hovering level with the topmost branches of an oak he called, "Come and get it, Potter!"

Harry grabbed his broom, noticing his twin's eyes had started filling with tears.

"No!" shouted Hermione. "Madam Hooch told us not to move- you'll get us all into trouble."

Harry ignored her. Blood was pounding in his ears. He mounted the broom and kicked hard against the ground and up, up he soared; air rushed through his hair, and his robes whipped out behind him- this was easy to him, this was wonderful. He pulled his broomstick up a little to take it even higher, and heard screams and gasps of girls back on the ground and an admiring whoop from Ron. He heard the one thing he needed to hear, though, his sister's approval.

"Get him Harry!" she had yelled, and Harry saw the pain flash across Draco's face before his resolve hardened.

"Give it here," Harry called, "or I'll knock you off that broom!"

"Oh, yeah?" said Malfoy, trying to sneer, but looking worried.

Harry knew what to do. He leaned forward and grasped the broom tightly with both hands, and it shot towards Malfoy like a javelin. Malfoy only just got out of the way in time; Harry made a sharp about-face and held the broom steady. A few people below were clapping, but he could also hear a shouting match starting between Rose and Pansy.

"No Crabbe and Goyle up here to save your neck, Malfoy," Harry called.

The same thought seemed to have struck Malfoy.

"Have it your way, then!" he shouted, and he threw the glass ball high into the air and streaked back toward the ground.

While Harry chased the ball Rose walked up and deftly punched Malfoy in the shoulder her Hazel eyes blazing with a fury he had never seen before, "How dare you?!"

Before he could retort her attention was taken away from him by the screams of her fellow classmates and she gasped at the dive that her twin was making. Ron held her close as they followed his every moment. Harry had caught the remembrall and toppled gently onto the ground, with it clutched safely in his fist. Rose was about to laugh from relief when-

"HARRY POTTER!"

Her heart sank faster than he had just dived. Professor McGonagall was running towards them. He got to his feet while trembling and his twin dashed to his side.

"Never- in all my time at Hogwarts-"

Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock, and her glasses flashed furiously, something Sirius and Remus had always told them to avoid at all costs. "- how dare you- might have broken your neck-  
"It wasn't his fault, Professor-"

"Be quiet Ms. Potter-"

"But Malfoy-"

"That's enough, Mr. Weasley. Mr. Potter, follow me, now."

Harry caught sight of Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle's triumphant faces as he left, but sadly for them, so did Rose.

"You- you…" She was bristling with rage, and Ron, having heard the stories of her anger, tried to dissuade her.  
"Rose, I'm sure it'll be okay, McGonagall-"

"Her glasses glinted! My brother is going to be expelled and it's that- that TOERAGS fault!" She yelled.

Draco, starting to realize his mistake moved forward as if to comfort her, and this made her, if possible, even angrier, "Don't you dare come near me again Draco Malfoy! Maybe you're more like your uncle than you know!"

Draco went wide eyed and backed off, everyone staring at the very public announcement that she knew his family.

"You can't just treat someone you don't even know-" Pansy started.

"You don't know who I know!" Rose yelled just as Madam Hooch returned.

"Is there a problem here?" She asked.

"Yes!" Pansy and Rose chorused.

Then the whole story was explained to her and it exhausted her enough that she just sent them all on their way.

It was dinner time and after Rose had clung to her brother for a moment before he regaled them with his tale.

"You're joking."

Ron had a piece of steak and kidney pie halfway to his mouth, but he'd forgotten all about it. Rose was clinging to every word he spoke.

"Seeker?" he said. "But first years never- you must be the youngest house player in about-"

"- a century," said Harry, shoveling pie into his mouth. "Wood told me."

"When Sirius finds out…" Rose said with wide eyes before her eyes glinted with mischief.

"You're not going to tell him!"

"Oh, yes, yes I am!" She laughed happily.

"Anyways, I start training next week," Harry said. "Only wood wants it to be a secret," he said pointedly tp Rose.

Fred and George came into the hall, spotted Harry, and hurried over.

"Well done," said George in a low voice. "Wood told us. We're on the team too-Beaters."

"I tell you, we're going to win the Quidditch cup for sure this year," said Fred as he stole a piece of ham from Rose. "We haven't won since Charlie left, but this years team is going to be brilliant. You must be good, Harry, Wood was almost skipping when he told us."

"Anyway, we've got to go, Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passageway out of the school."

"Bet it's that one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week."

George started walking away, but Fred stayed behind, his ears turning red, "Hey, want to come with us Rose? We can tell you more about the castle if you'd like."

"Perfect!" said Rose as she stood up, seeing the oncoming approach of Draco. She hurriedly followed Fred out of the Great Hall. Once they reached George they looped arms and started walking to the Gryffindor common room.

"So, how do you guys know so much about the school when even your brothers don't know?"

"That, my dear Rose, is a Marauder's secret," Fred said with a wink.

Rose gasped and stopped walking, staring at the bewildered friends in shock. "You two have the map! Remus and Sirius said it was destroyed!"

"Remus and Sirius? Did they know the Marauders?" George asked, excitement filling his voice.

"You mean you two don't know?" Rose said, now also bewildered.

"Don't know what?" Fred pressed.

"They're part of the Marauders!"

There was silence in the hall before both twins started stammering and looking at her like she was a goddess, "You mean-"

"Your guardians-"

"Are the marauders?!" they chorused.

Rose giggled, "Yeah, they're my guardians, Prongs was my dad." She said, standing a bit taller when she said it.

"That's- I mean- wow." They both looked thoroughly impressed at this revelation and smirked at each other, a familiar smirk that sent a tingle down her spine. "I guess we should keep you around then."

They continued to the Gryffindor common room, talking about the map and how they wished that they could figure out how to make another one. Rose informed them that it was mostly her father's creation, and while the other Marauders had helped they wouldn't know where to start, a fact that Sirius had lamented for years.

Once they got to the Gryffindor common room, they met with Lee Jordan, who was practically bouncing until he saw Rose, "Oh, escorting her to her room?"

"Nah, she's going to come with us. Think of her as a prodigy of sorts."  
Lee rolled his eyes but shrugged, not willing to turn away a fellow prankster, "Alright, but she better not tell."  
Rose smiled and held up her hand, "Marauders honor." This got Lee's attention, and while they explained what was going on Lee lead us to the fourth floor and to a giant mirror. He looked at the twins proudly as he poked a stone next to it with his wand and it slowly swung open. Inside was a dark cavernous passageway that could easily hold 50 people. It was dark and dank and appeared to be structurally unstable.

The twins nodded and hummed appreciatively, while Rose smiled, knowing they would say that they already knew about it.

"Good work Lee-"

"But we already knew about this one."

Lee groaned and shut the passageway behind the mirror, his moment of shining achievement having been taken away from him. "You know all of the secret passageways."

"That is a possibility." The twins said seriously.

They chattered amiably as they all walked back to Gryffindor common room, Rose feeling more accepted than she had in a long time. She thought she had seen a glimpse of blonde hair at one point but ignored it when Fred caught her attention again, not noticing Lee and George exchanging knowing glances over her shoulder.

Once they reached the common room they separated to their respective dorm rooms. This, Rose soon learned, was a mistake.

As soon as Rose stepped into her dorm she was bombarded by her frantic 'friend' Hermione Granger. "They're going to have a duel and you have to stop them! If you don't we could lose so many points!"

"Woah, woah, woah. Calm down. Take a breath, and then repeat." Rose said while holding her hands in a defensive matter.

Hermione took a second to collect her apparently frantic thoughts and sighed, "Harry, Ron, and Draco are going to have a duel."

I groaned and turned on my heel, not needing to hear more as I went to go confront my idiot brother. I heard quiet gasps from some of the girls as I took the first steps onto the steps of the boy's dorms. In my annoyance, I turned around and snapped, "As if you didn't already know you could go up here!" And continued on my way to my brother.

Rose did not have the urge to see anyone in my year naked though (especially not ickle Ronniekins, ick!) and knocked on the door announcing her presence before she barged in. Seamus had ducked and taken cover, Dean was looking at her in shock and the two idiots she was there to see looked at her in shock.  
"No." Harry groaned, hiding his head in his hands as Ron shook his head in disappointment.

"You know, I had given her 5 years before she actually came into our dorm." Ron said and both Harry and I looked at him in confusion, before we noticed his ears turning pink and we gagged.

She shook off her disgust and narrowed her eyes at the two idiots, "You will not go." She said as calmly as she could.

"Oh? And who's to stop me?" Harry said, now equally annoyed.

"Me. And if I don't, I'll make your life a living hell when we get back home." She snapped, not noticing that that was the first time she had sworn- ever. The boys, however, had.

"Woah! Harry, mate, I think she means it!" Ron said with wide eyes.  
Harry deflated and sighed looking defeated, "Tell me a good reason that I shouldn't go."

"Because, you idiot, he's a Slytherin. He's playing you, trying to get you in trouble. He probably has already told Filch."

Both Ron and Harry looked ashamed now, knowing that they would've played right into Malfoy's trap. "Look, we were just-"

"Going to lose Gryffindor a lot of points? Yes. You were. Now go to bed." Rose said as she stalked out of their dorm and into my own.

"Did you stop them?" The always over eager Hermione asked.

"Yes." Rose simply replied.

Hermione nodded her approval, but still appeared dubious as she left the dorm room, claiming to have forgotten a book down there. Rose was asleep before her return, and her dreams were strange that night.

Rose looked around the room behind the mirror, and saw her guardians and parents standing together, Lily with a pronounced baby bump, and a short fat man standing with them too. Rose went wide eyed and yelled, "Mom!" But no one reacted, they just kept talking.

"You know, maybe Molly would be a good godmother?" Lily was saying while Remus nodded his agreement, the short fat man who Rose recognized as a young wormtail nodded avidly until he noticed James wasn't and then he shook his head no.

"Look, Lils, she's a great mother and all but do we really want to burden her with two more kids? She already has Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George and another on the way. She's an amazing woman but with all of her broad already she doesn't need that sort of pressure." James reasoned.

Lily's eyes teared up as Rose started moving nearer, "Do you think I have poor judgement, James?"

At this point, Draco Malfoy walked in, and looked Rose in the eyes as her parents disappeared, "You know, you've always caused a lot of trouble."

Rose grew angry quickly and went to hit him only for him to transform into her twin brother who looked at her with pain in his eyes.

"Harry I-"  
"You don't need to explain. You always try to hurt me, I guess you just started to be physical."

Rose had tears fill her eyes and she looked at her brother in pain before he also transformed, turning into a laughing Professor Quirrell's turban unraveling to reveal-

Rose woke with a start and gasped, breathing heavily, Maple pawing at her hand as if to ask if she were okay. Rose tried to think of what had just happened in her dream, but all she could remember was the underlying pain. She sighed and stood up, getting ready for the day, which she had a feeling wouldn't be all that terrible.

That was until Hermione told her the story of the three-headed dog.

Rose had never been so angry in her life as she stormed down into the room to give her brother a stern talking to until she faltered at the sight of him looking positively cheerful. For some reason this made her even angrier as she stormed up to him, his smile slowly drifting off of his face.

"You are your father's son. I understand that." She seethed. "But right now you are being a complete- you- I can't even tell you what you've done! You are an idiot and you put yourself in a dangerous situation! If it happens again I'll- I'll…"

"We'll invite you next time." Ron offered helpfully.

"Ugh!" She yelled. "Until you two do some good, I'm not talking to either of you." With that statement, she walked off.

She sat with Neville and Hermione, who both showed no interest in the adventure that had occurred the previous night and she sighed quietly, knowing that this was going to be a hard experience for her, but that she couldn't rat out her brother.

A week had passed, and Rose was growing acclimated to not speaking to her brother. She had the Weasley twins, Neville, Hermione and even Draco was trying to reach out to her again. She knew the boys blamed all of their issues onto Draco, so she kept that last part to herself. She had met up with Draco once that week and talked about their issues before deciding, this time, they'd keep their feelings of friendship a secret until after school, to prevent further issues. Neither were happy with this plan, but they believed it would work for the better.

That day, however, she was strained yet again. Her brother had received a broom in the mail. As soon as the boys left the hall she used every short cut she had learned to get to the Gryffindor Common Room before them and stared at them as they came in.

"Well, who's it from?" She said with crossed arms.

Harry and Ron seemed relieved that she wasn't yelling and Harry quickly said, "McGonagall! I can't wait until I tell Remus and Sirius!"

"She does realize that you already have one?"

This caused the boys to pause. Rose shook her head and continued on to her classes after grabbing her bag.

That day, Rose couldn't focus on any of her school work. She couldn't believe that Sirius and Remus had had nothing to do with that broom. She had half a mind to confront McGonagall, but she also knew that that wasn't her place. So she just struggled through her school day.

Weeks passed, and Rose was slowly starting to talk to her twin and his best friend again, mainly because of what was soon coming. She had never spent a Halloween without at least one of her family members, and she wasn't about to start now. Her letters to Remus and Sirius were getting more frequent, unlike the other students who were getting less frequent. She was worried about her guardians, afraid that without Harry and her they would spiral into a depression over Halloween.

Halloween morning came, and along with it came the smell of baking pumpkin. Even better than the beautiful smell was Professor Flitwick's announcement that he believed they were ready to start making objects fly. He had previously made Neville's toad zoom around the room, and that may have been part of the reason they were so excited. Professor Flitwick put the class into pairs to practice. Harry's Partner was Seamus Finnegan, and Rose's partner was a Slytherin girl named Tracey. Rose didn't mind the partnership too much, considering they had made a pact to ignore each other unless absolutely necessary.

"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too- never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."

Everyone in the class was struggling, Seamus set fire to his feather, Ron was yelling, and Rose was just studying her feather.

"Do you not get it?" Tracey finally broke the silence.

"Oh- no- I mean I do! I just… I don't want to show off… Because I think I could do it." Rose stammered.

Tracey simply nodded and pointed at Hermione who was about to do the spell and seeing her opportunity Rose did the spell at the same time as Hermione, knowing the other girl would also get the spell.

Their feathers rose off of their desks and hovered about four feet above their heads.

"Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger and Miss Potter have done it!"

For some reason, Ron was in a bad mood for the rest of the class.

Rose was walking with Hermione when Ron said, "It's no wonder no one can stand her, she's a nightmare, honestly."  
Hermione, completely ignoring the fact that Rose was right there with her rammed into Harry as she ran away in tears.  
"I think she heard you." Harry muttered before paling and glancing over his shoulder seeing the glowering face of his twin.

"She's not the only one," Rose said rising to her full height. "And Ronald Weasley, the next time you see her you'd better apologize. I've worked hard with her to pass her insecurities, and you've put her back at least a month."

Hermione didn't turn up for the next class and wasn't seen all afternoon. On their way down to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, Harry and Ron overheard Parvati Patil telling her friend Lavender that Hermione was crying in the girls' bathroom and wanted to be left alone, much to Rose's disappointment.

Rose sat nowhere near her brother, although she had only started talking to him for this occasion, and sat with the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan.

"Rose, it's really not your fault our brother is an insensitive git." Fred tried to cheer her up.

"I know but-"

"No buts," Fred said, although he couldn't help but think that Rose was developing a very cute one.

Rose sighed and was about to help herself to some salad when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore's chair, slumped against the table, and gasped, "Troll- in the dungeons- thought you ought to know." He then sank to the floor in a dead faint.

There was an uproar. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore's wand to bring silence.

"Prefects," he rumbled, "lead your houses back to the dormitories immediately!"

In the chaos the Weasley twins and Lee had hauled Rose to her feet and ushered her to her twin and Ron, claiming they were going to cover the rear with some of the other older kids to make sure everyone of the younger students were safe.

Percy, for one, was in his element.

"Follow me! Stick together, first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect!"

"How could a troll get in?" Harry asked as they climbed the stairs, allowing his sister to fiercely grab his hand.

"Don't ask me, they're supposed to be really stupid," said Ron. "Maybe Peeves let it in for a Halloween joke."

"Not much of a joke," Rose said nervously.

They passed different groups of people hurrying in different directions. As they jostled their way through a crowd of confused Hufflepuffs, Harry suddenly grabbed Ron's arm and tightened his grip on his twin.  
"I've just thought- Hermione."

"What about her?" Ron asked.

Realization hit Rose and she spoke with her twin, "She doesn't know about the troll."

Ron bit his lip.

"Oh, all right," he snapped. "But Percy'd better not see us."  
"I'll handle that," Rose muttered, leading the way into the group of Hufflepuffs, slipping down a deserted side corridor and hurrying off towards the girls' bathroom. They had just turned the corner when they heard quick footsteps behind them.

"Percy!" hissed Ron, pulling Harry and Rose behind a large stone griffin.

Peering around it, however, they saw not Percy but Snape. He crossed the corridor and disappeared from view.

"What's he doing?" Harry whispered. "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?"

"Search me." Ron muttered, but Rose had a sinking suspicion that she knew.

Quietly as possible, they crept along the next corridor after Snape's fading footsteps.

"He's heading for the third floor," Harry said, but Ron held up his hand.

"Can you smell something?"

Ron was right, there was a foul stench that reached their noses, a mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet no one seemed to clean.

Then they heard it- a low grunting, and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet. Ron pointed- at the end of the passage to the left, something huge was moving towards them. They shrank into the shadows and watched as it emerged into a patch of moonlight.

It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite gray, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.

The troll stopped next to a doorway and peered inside. It waggled its long ears, making up its tiny mind, then slouched slowly into the room.

"The key's in the lock," Harry muttered. "We could lock it in."

"Good idea," said Ron nervously.

"That's the girls bathroom!" A terrified Rose said as they edged toward the open door, mouths dry, praying the troll wasn't about to come out of it.

They were just about to go get a teacher, at least, Rose was, when a high-pitched, terrified scream echoed from the room.

"Hermione!" they yelled together.

It was the last thing any of them wanted to do, but what choice did they have? Wheeling around, they sprinted through the door and ran inside.

Hermione was shrinking against the wall opposite, looking as if she was about to faint. The troll was advancing on her, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went.

"Confuse it!" Harry said desperately to Ron, and, seizing a tap, he threw it as hard as he could against the wall. The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its mean little eyes saw Harry. It hesitated, then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went.

"Oy, pea-brain!" yelled Ron from the other side of the other side of the chamber, and threw a metal pipe at it. The troll didn't even seem to notice the pipe hitting its shoulder, but it heard the yell and paused again turning its ugly snout toward Ron instead, giving Rose time to go around Harry and the troll.

"Come on, run, run!" Harry yelled at Hermione as Rose pulled on her, trying to get her to the door, but she couldn't move Hermione, who was pressed against the wall, her mouth open with terror.

The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk. It roared again and started toward Ron, who was nearest and had no way to escape.

Then, much to Rose's horror, Harry did something very stupid: he took a great running jump and managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind while screaming, "Leave him alone!" The troll couldn't feel Harry hanging there, but even a troll will notice if you stick a long bit of wood up its nose, and indeed Harry had. Since his wand has been in his hand when he jumped, his wand went straight up the trolls nose.

With the troll howling in pain and appearing as if he was going to grab Harry or hit him with the club at any moment, Rose wanted to join Hermione on the floor in absolute terror. She watched Ron pull out his wand and before she could tell him that it would be futile, he screamed, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Much to Rose's surprise, the club lifted out of the trolls hands, and Harry cheered on his friend for the split second before a sickening crack filled the room as the trolls club connected with its head. The troll swayed on the spot then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble.

Harry got to his feet, shaking and out of breath. Ron stood there with his wand still raised and Rose stared at the catastrophe they had created in utter horror.

It was Hermione who spoke first.

"Is it- dead?"

"I don't think so," said Harry, "I think it's just been knocked out."

He bent down and pulled his wand out of the troll's nose. It was covered in what looked like lumpy gray glue.

"Urgh- troll boogers."

He wiped it on the troll's trousers.

They hadn't realized what a racket they had been making, but of course, someone downstairs must have heard the crashes and the troll's roars. A moment later, Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the room, closely followed by Snape with Quirrell bringing up the rear.

Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart.

Snape took one look at the troll after looking swiftly over Rose, although he was discreet. Professor McGonagall was looking at Ron and Harry, who were closest to the troll. Harry had never seen her look so angry, and he recognized her expression as one that Remus and Sirius had told him to avoid at all costs. Her lips were white. Hopes of winning fifty points for Gryffindor faded quickly from his mind.

"What on earth were you thinking of?" said Professor McGonagall, with cold fury in her voice.

Harry looked at Ron, who was still standing with his wand in the air. Rose was shaking, hoping beyond hope she wasn't going to get expelled for saving her friend. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?" Snape gave Harry a swift, piercing look, then a slightly softer one directed at Rose. Harry looked at the floor and Rose walked up to him, opening her mouth to explain.

Then a small voice came out of the shadows. "Please, Professor McGonagall- they were looking for me."

"Miss Granger!" Hermione had managed to get to her feet at last.

"I went looking for the troll because I-I thought I could deal with it on my own- you know because I've read all about them."

Ron dropped his wand and Rose gave Hermione a swift, piercing look, trying to determine what she was doing.

"If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Harry stuck his wand up its nose and Ron knocked it out with its own club. Rose tried to get me out, they didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they had arrived." Harry and Ron tried to look as if this wasn't news to them, but only Rose truly succeeded.

"Well- in that case..." said Professor McGonagall, staring at the four of them. "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"

Hermione hung her head. Rose, Harry, and Ron were speechless. Hermione was the last person to do anything against the rules, and here she was, pretending she had, to get them out of trouble. It was almost as if Snape had started handing out non-poisoned sweets.

"Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this," said Professor McGonagall. "I'm very disappointed in you. If you are not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor Tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses."

Hermione left. Professor McGonagall turned to Harry and Ron next. "Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win Gryffindor five points."

"Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."

They hurried out, not even taking notice that Rose was being left behind.

"Now, Miss Potter..." McGonagall seemed to be at a loss for words.

"Yes...?"

Before she could continue Rose swayed slightly and, surprisingly, Snape was the one who caught her.

"Perhaps she should go to the hospital wing? She seems to be the only one who got hurt." Snape said with a sneer in his voice.

Rose was shocked at this news. Had she been hurt? She looked over her body and, much to her surprise, her knees were cut up and her arm had a rather deep gash in it.

"Yes- yes. That'd be a good idea. Severus, will you take her?"

Snape didn't seem to like the idea but he agreed and as he led her out McGonagall called after her, "And Miss Potter? Twenty-five points for trying to save your friend."

Rose would've blushed if she could have.

Snape led her to the hospital wing, and she yawned, suddenly exhausted.  
"That was very foolish of you Rose."

Rose looked up in shock, realizing that it was, in fact, Snape who spoke. "I had to make sure Hermione didn't get herself killed."

"Hmph," was his noncommittal answer.

As soon as she got to Madame Pomphrey and was taken care of she was shipped back to Gryffindor common room, where only three people were waiting.  
"Rose!" they all said as they stood.

"Fred? George? Lee? What are you still doing up?" Rose asked in bewilderment.

"We were worried!" Fred said, moving forward a split second before his twin did the same and engulfed her in a hug.  
"I'm fine now. No need to worry."

"Now?!" They yelped as George and Lee joined the hug.

"Guys, I was just a little beat up. No big deal."

As they all sat and discussed (thoroughly) what had happened, Rose officially left her twin to be friends with the three troublemakers that cared about her.


	4. Chapter 4

As they entered November, the weather turned very cold. The mountains around the school became icy gray and the lake like chilled steel. Every morning the ground was covered with frost. Hagrid could be seen from the upstairs window defrosting broomsticks on the Quidditch fields, bundled up in a long moleskin overcoat, rabbit fur gloves, and enormous beaver skin boots.

The Quidditch season has begun. On Saturday, Harry would be playing in his first match after weeks of training: Gryffindor vs Slytherin. If Gryffindor won, they would move up into second place in the house championship.

Hardly anyone had seen Harry play, although everyone knew he was. When it had become common knowledge he had gotten a howler saying, " _That's James's son! I'm so proud of you! Remus is proud to even if he says he isn't!"_

As Rose separated herself slowly from her brother and Ron, her relationship with the twins grew significantly closer. They helped her with her work when she needed it (which wasn't often) and they explored and often played pranks on those who didn't understand why the brilliant Girl-Who-Lived was hanging out with those Troublesome Pranksters.

The night before the first Quidditch match the common room was very noisy. Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat together next to a window. Rose nodded to them before being swept up by the twins who were so excited they could barely talk.

"What is it, guys?" She asked with a laugh as they dragged her to their designated table.

"We're going to win tomorrow! Your twin is amazing!" They both said excitedly.

"What did he do now?" She asked with a sigh.

"Nothing! We're just so pumped!" Fred explained.

Rose rolled her eyes and got out her homework, "Well, to calm you both down let's talk about something that isn't Quidditch."

"Christmas!" They chorused.

"That won't settle you down," she pointed out as she started checking her work.

"You're boring," they huffed, although she noticed that Fred's facial expression was less convincing.

"Fine," she said, putting away her already perfect work as her twin walked out of the common room. "I'm not boring. Let's talk Christmas."

She listened calmly as the twins slowly worked themselves down and smiled when they took their first yawns, rather happy that they were getting tired as she had work to do. "You two should sleep. Big day tomorrow."

They both stood and hugged her before heading to their room, letting her finally work on her schoolwork. What she didn't know, was that they were pretending to be tired in order to go plot in the sanctity of their room with Lee, who never told their secrets.

"You like her," George accused his twin as they started changing into his pajamas.

"As if you don't," huffed Fred as Lee snickered in the background. "What Lee? You like her too!" Fred accused.

"Mate, you're so infatuated you think everyone likes her," Lee cockily replied.

Before Fred could respond, his twin nodded, "It's true."

"Fine! I like her! She's smart and kind, I mean, you were there when she hugged us for getting her Maple," Fred said, pointing to the cat that had taken to sleeping on his bed when her master was busy.

"And notice how Maple only sleeps on _your_ bed."

"Shut up." Fred groaned as he got Maple off of his bed. "I'm going to sleep."

He could still hear his twins and best friends laughter as he pulled the curtains closed around him.

Rose watched as a disgruntled Maple made her way down the boy's stairs and smiled slightly. "Hey there, girl. Did you have a nice nap?"

Maple ignored her and put her tail up, leading the way to Rose's room, which prompted Rose to follow her and go to bed, knowing that tomorrow would be a big day and that her brother and the Weasley twins would either be inconsolable or on cloud nine.

With Maple safely curled up on her back, Rose drifted off to sleep, not noticing when Hermione slipped into the room much later.

Next morning dawned very bright and cold. The Great Hall was full of the delicious smell of fried sausages in the cheerful chattering of everyone looking forward to a good Quidditch match.

Rose attempted to get her brother to eat something before the twins pulled her back towards them, piling their plates with food.

"Listen, Rose, he probably won't eat before the games until he gets used to it," Lee Jordan offered his friend.

"Yeah, but-"

"There are no buts. You should've seen these two their first year," Lee said with a smirk at his long-term friends.

They both just grunted in agreement, seemingly entirely focused on eating. Rose then noticed Lee wasn't eating much. "Shouldn't you be eating, Lee?"

"No, if I eat too much I'll get sick while commentating. So I just bring snacks," he said as if it was the obvious decision.

By eleven o'clock the whole school seemed to be out in the stands around the Quidditch field. Many students (including Rose) had binoculars. The seats might be raised high in the air, but it was still difficult to see what was going on sometimes.

Ron, Rose, and Hermione joined Neville, Seamus, and Dean up in the top row. As a surprise for Harry, they had painted a large banner on one of the sheets Scabbers had ruined. It said _Potter for President,_ and Dean, who was good at drawing, had done a large Gryffindor lion underneath. Then Hermione (with Rose's guidance) had performed a tricky little charm so that the paint flashed different colors.

Rose excitedly watched as the teams marched towards Madame Hooch, who was refereeing the game. She noticed Harry still looked rather green while she spoke to them until he mounted his broom. Then came a loud blast from Madame Hooch's whistle, and the game began.

"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor- what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive too-" Lee started.

"JORDAN!"

"Sorry, Professor. And she's really belting along up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood's last year only a reserve- back to Johnson and - no, the Slytherins have taken the Quaffle, Slytherin Captain Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle, and off he goes- Flint flying like an eagle up there- he's going to sc- no, stopped by an Excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Wood and the Gryffindor's take the Quaffle- that's chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor there, nice dive around Flint, off up the field and - OUCH- that must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a Bludger- Quaffle taken by the Slytherins- that's Adrian Pucey speeding off toward the goal posts, but he's blocked by a second Bludger- sent his way by Fred or George Weasley, can't tell which-" Rose sighed, as she could tell it was George. "-nice play by the Gryffindor Beater, anyway, and Johnson back in possession of the Quaffle, a clear field ahead and off she goes- she's really flying- dodges a speeding Bludger- the goal posts are ahead- come on, now, Angelina- Keeper Bletchley dives- misses- GRYFFINDORS SCORE!"

The cheers of the Gryffindors surrounded Rose, who although was excited wasn't quite excited enough to scream about it.

"Budge up there, move along."

"Hagrid!"

Ron, Hermione and Rose squeezed together to give Hagrid enough space to join them.

"Bin watchin' from me hut," Hagrid said, patting a large pair of binoculars around his neck, "But it isn't the same as bein' in the crowd. No sign of the Snitch yet, eh?"

"Nope," said Ron. "Harry hasn't had much to do yet.

"That's a good thing," Rose muttered as Hagrid said, "Kept outta trouble, though, that's somethin'," while raising his binoculars and peering skyward at the speck that was Harry.

Rose felt pride as she watched her twin glide over the field way up above them. Although she got nervous when a bludger headed his way with Fred chasing it, shouting something to Harry before sending it straight to Marcus Flint.

"Slytherin in possession," Lee said. "Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys, and Chaser Bell and speeds toward the- wait a moment- was that the Snitch?"

A murmur was sent through the crowd as Adrian Pucey dropped the Quaffle, too busy looking over his shoulder at the flash of gold that had passed his left ear.

Harry dove after the streak of gold. Neck and neck he and Terence Higgs hurtled toward the Snitch- all the chasers seemed to have forgotten what they were supposed to be doing as they hung in midair to watch.

Harry was faster, which was obvious, but he was thrown off course by Marcus Flint, who had blocked Harry on purpose.

"Foul!" screamed the Gryffindors.

Madam Hooch spoke angrily to Flint and then ordered a free shot at the goal posts for Gryffindor. But in all the confusion, of course, the Golden Snitch had disappeared from sight again.

Dean Thomas was yelling, "Send him off, ref! Red card!"

"What are you talking about, Dean?" said Ron.

"The best idea I think he's ever had," hummed Rose.

With a slight blush, Dean continued, still furious, "Red card! In soccer, you get shown the red card and you're out of the game!"

"This isn't soccer, Dean."

Hagrid and Rose, however, were on Dean's side.

"They oughta change the rules. Flint coulda knocked Harry out of the air."

Lee, to Rose's happiness, was finding it difficult not to choose sides, "So- after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating-"

"Jordan!" growled Professor McGonagall.

"I mean, after that open and revolting foul-"

" _Jordan_ , _I'm warning you-_ "

"All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinnet, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue play, Gryffindor still in possession."

As Lee continued commenting, Rose noticed Harry zigzagging through the sky, every now and then making violent swishing movements as if to unseat him.

"Harry!" Rose gasped, frantically searching the crowd for the source of the jinx she was sure was being placed on his broom.

The people started gasping and pointing as Harry's broom started doing a barrel roll, retroactively making Rose feel sick until she saw two people, one was Snape, and the other was Quirrell. Not knowing the issues Harry's friends had with Snape, she shoved the binoculars into Ron's hand.

"Hermione, with me!" She yelled as Harry was thrown from his broom, now only holding on with one hand. She felt immensely thankful that the Weasley's were circling under him, ready to catch him.

Hermione and Rose sprinted, with Rose shouting the plan to Hermione, "Those blue flames I taught you? Cast that on Snape's robes. I'll get Quirrel," Hermione looked startled but nodded.

Without casting any magic Rose hurled herself at Professor Quirrell just as Hermione set fire to Snape's robes, "Professor, save my brother!" she wailed as a means of an excuse. She noticed Harry stop swinging wildly and smiled, what she hoped was thankfully, up at her Professor, "Thank you!" and she and Hermione ran back, watching as Harry hurtled towards the ground and landed on all fours, looking as if he were going to be sick, before he spit up something gold.  
"I've got the snitch!" he called.

The game ended in complete confusion, and while Rose stayed to congratulate the Weasley twins and to thank them, Harry was whisked away by Ron, Hermione, and Hagrid.

As soon as the Weasley twins exited the changing room Rose tackled them both, "Oh, thank you so much!"

"For what?" they chimed, in complete confusion.

"You were there when Harry needed you. Thank you for trying to save him."

Slowly they returned the hug, perhaps with Fred a bit more enthusiastic, before all three moved away, "It's no big deal, Rose," George said.

"Yeah, I'm sure he would've done it for us too," Fred said.

"But still. Thank you."

They started walking back to the castle, the boys still exhausted but happy about the huge lead that they now had. Rose was just happy that her best friends were happy and her twin was okay.

Christmas was on its way, and Rose, being ever prepared, had sent for money from Sirius and Remus and then ordered all her gifts via Owl (Galen wasn't all that happy about the other owls that were seen visiting her for a while). But with all of her gifts ready by December 5th she hadn't been that worried about Christmas.

One day in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find that it was covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban (they still aren't sure how Rose got out of trouble). The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver mail had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again.

No one could wait for the holidays to start. While the Gryffindor common room and the great hall had roaring fires, the drafty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worst of all were professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons, where their breath rose in a mist before them and they had to keep as close as possible to their hot cauldrons.

Rose had asked Draco, under her breath, how he kept warm in the dungeons. He had proudly informed her that Snape had taught them all heating charms just in case, and then proceeded to cast them on her whenever she was going down to the dungeons.

Rose, however, wasn't sure what to think about the winter holidays. Her brother wouldn't be going home, and neither would the twins. She had thought, perhaps, that she could go home, but then she had got a letter from Remus, that was short, but got it's point across.

 _Rose,_

 _Sirius is on a trip, and I have things to deal with_ _ **on my own**_ _this Christmas. We hope you and Harry have a good Christmas._

 _-Remus_

Although Rose had been heartbroken, she appreciated that she wouldn't have to choose between her friends and her family.

Once the holiday's started, though, Rose recognized something. Her twin and his best friends were up to something mischievous. She could see the twinkle in her twins eye, see their hushed conversations, and she knew, right then and there, that whatever it was was big. So, instead of spying on her twin, she asked him straight on.

"Well, what is is?" she asked him one day.

"What is what?" he asked.

"Well, whatever it is you, Ron, and Hermione are always whispering about. I know something is going on, and you should tell me what it is."

Harry was silent for a moment before sighing, "Look, it's about the trapdoor."

"Not again!"

"Yes, again. We found out it has something to do with Nicholas Flamel."

Rose stared at him wide-eyed, automatically knowing what he and his friends had been whispering about, but knowing she couldn't tell her brother that, "I… I have to go."

Rose ran as fast as her feet could carry her to Professor McGonagall's office, and knocked, waiting impatiently for her to answer.

"Come in."

Rose rushed into her room, panting a little from running, and stared at her slightly wide-eyed professor, "I need to talk to Professor Dumbledore."

"Whatever for?"

"Advice?"

"I can give you advice, Rose. Come, sit down."

Rose reluctantly listened to her professor and sat across from her. "So, Miss Potter," McGonagall asked, slipping back into her professionalism. "What exactly seems to be the issue?"

"It's not an issue per say. I just need to talk to Professor Dumbledore. You must understand, this is nothing against you, but Professor, I can't possibly discuss this with you."

Professor McGonagall looked at her and sighed knowingly, "Well, I suppose I can help you… He enjoys Sugar Quill's when he's thinking."

"Thank you!" Rose said as she dashed out of the room to where the twins had told her Professor Dumbledore's office was. Once she reached the Gargoyle's she took a deep breath, and shakily spoke, "Sugar quills."

She went up the stairs and knocked on his door, coming in when beckoned to. His stare over his half-moon spectacles beckoning her to speak.  
"Sir I-"

"Have a seat," he said motioning to the chair in front of his desk. "Although, I can assure you your uncle is fine."

"Uncle…?" she asked, before a much younger voice filled her head, crying out 'Unka Moo'y! Unka Pa'oot!' She shook her younger self out of her head. "You know what's going on with Sirius and Remus?"

"Sirius believe's he's caught the trail of Peter Pettigrew."

"And Remus…?"

"That is another matter."

Rose waited for him to continue, but after is silence permeated the room she decided to move forward, with much more uncertainty than she wanted to admit to. "Harry and his friends… They accidentally went to the third-floor corridor. They opened a door, met a Cerebus and noticed a trapdoor. They… They say it has something to do with Nicholas Flamel. And I know what he's famous for sir, you _can't_ be hiding the Philosopher's stone here, can you?" She said.

"Don't worry dear, it is well protected," He said, templing his fingers in front of his face. "I don't think your brother or anyone else will be able to get to it."

Rose frowned, noting that he obviously didn't know her brother, but she reserved her judgment. "I just thought you should know sir."

"Thank you for telling me."

Rose felt her dismissal, and as she left it dawned on her that the old man wouldn't do anything to help her. She walked absentmindedly back to the Gryffindor common room and was immediately pulled into plans for the welcome back feast by the Weasley twins and Lee, who were sure that a prank was the best idea in the world, as they were itching to prank someone.

"Okay, fine, if you won't let us prank the whole school, why not the Slytherins?" Lee offered after a full five minutes of back and forth.

"Yeah! That seems fair!" George said excitedly.

"Okay, guys, not all Slytherins are bad. Pranking them just because they're Slytherin is pointless," Rose said, thinking of her rather rude Slytherin friend.

"Oh? Does Rose have a crush on a Slytherin?" George jested, much to his brother's annoyance.  
"If I did what would you say?" Rose shot back angrily. "It's not like they aren't human. They're not just sneaky people, they have feelings. And if they're friends with you they're pretty loyal too."

Rose's hand went to the Snake bracelet she wore around her wrist that no one was yet to question. She noticed Fred's eyes follow her motion, so she removed her hand and sighed, "Look, guys, I have a friend in Slytherin. He's not the nicest fellow, but he's nice enough, and he acts much more mean than he is because of who his father is."

"Oh? And who could this 'good' Slytherin be?" the twins chorused.

"You'll freak out when you find out," she warned.

"Try us."

Rose sighed, and looked at Lee apologetically, knowing in advance that the twins really would freak out, "Draco Malfoy."

For a second there was silence, then the explosion happened. " _WHAT?!_ "

"Guys-"

"No, no, no, no! You do not get to 'guys' us! You're friends with… With _him_?!" Fred yelped.

"I thought you were a good girl Rose," groaned George.

"He's really not that bad. I've been friends with him for years."

This was, apparently the wrong thing to say, " _Years_?" all three chorused.

Rose sighed, but knew that them finding out was inevitable, and it was better that they knew now rather than later, "If you guys only knew the real him then you'd see what I see."

Fred looked angry at this statement and was about to say something when George held up his hand, "Wait. Look, we don't like the guy, or his family, or anything to do with him, really. On the other hand, I do like Rose, and I think she's a pretty good judge of character."

Rose smiled at George, happy that he had calmed down, "Thank you."

"No problem," George said with a smile before turning to Lee and Fred. "Well?"

Lee was the first to respond, "Yeah, Malfoy's are notoriously arse's, but if you think he's good, then he's good."

Fred looked as if he wanted to disagree, but he didn't openly argue, for this Rose was thankful, as she didn't want any of them to be upset with her.

So they went back to plotting, deciding that pranking their fellow Gryffindors and themselves would work best because then they can't prove that they were the ones to instigate it; if they did it right, that is.


	5. Chapter 5

Once the holidays had started, Rose spent much of her time learning all of the ins and outs of the school with the Weasley twins, occasionally joining her brother and Ron in roasting food over the firepit. They often tried to discuss getting Malfoy expelled with her, but she never participated in these conversations. What she did was help Harry with his wizard chess game. He had always been bad at it while Ron excelled, and she was fairly good so she liked to help her brother.

Christmas eve came around, and Rose approached her brother and his friend with a blush on her face, "Hey, guys?" She timidly asked.

"Yeah? What is it?" Harry asked.

"Well… You know it's tradition for everyone to sleep in the living room Christmas eve at home?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I was hoping you guys would sleep in the common room with me?"

Ron and Harry looked at each other for a moment, obviously contemplating whether or not this was worth it to them. Surprisingly, Ron was the one who spoke first, "Yeah, sure."

"Thanks, guys!" She said, hugging them tightly. "And maybe you can get the twins to stay down here too? We can be like one big family!"

They nodded their consent and went to inform the twins of the plan. The twins, who knew how much Rose had wanted to see her family that Christmas, immediately complied. They all changed into their pajamas and grabbed blankets and such before coming downstairs, finding Rose waiting with piles of graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate.

When Rose took in their shocked expression she blushed, "Sorry… I just thought maybe we could make smores? The houselves got excited, though."

Fred and George just shrugged their shock off, and went about trying to build a blanket fort, "Yeah, they tend to do that."

Harry and Ron looked at each other before they set to making some smores, their stomachs rumbling even though they had eaten very well at the feast. Rose, watching them hustle and bustle, decided to start a conversation, "So! Umm… At The Abode, we always asked one question that everyone had to answer. So… I'll go first okay?"

There was a general murmur of consent before Rose continued, "Well… If you could be more like anyone in the whole world, dead or alive, who would you be like?"

Harry was the first to answer her question, as he was more used to these events, "Well, I'd want to be more like dad. He was brave and intelligent. I mean, he was terrible with girls according to Sirius, so that sorta sucks, but he was a great man."

Rose hugged her twin close for a second before saying what was on her mind, "Well, you're already so much like him. Your transfiguration could use a bit of work, though." Harry snorted in response.

Fred was the next one to speak, "I'd actually be more like Bill. He's so calm and relaxed but he's so cool at the same time."

George and Ron snorted before George spoke, "Yeah, well I'd want to be like Dad. Sure he's not the coolest, but he's genuinely happy, and that's not something everyone gets in life."

Rose looked at Ron next, beckoning him to speak, "Bloody hell guys, I don't know who I would be. Merlin maybe? 'Cause he was super smart and famous and stuff."

Rose shrugged her shoulders, accepting his answer, before answering herself, "Personally I would be more like Remus. He's gone through so much in his life but he's still so kind. Not to mention he's insanely intelligent, and he's a great role model, no matter how you look at him." She said with a smile.

She nodded her head at Harry, who knew this to mean that it was his turn to ask a question. He hummed in thought, handing a s'more to his twin before nodding his head, having settled on a question, "What are your goals in life?"

Fred and George answered together, "To own a joke shop."

Rose giggled a little, "Does your mother know about your plans?"

"Not yet, but she will," Fred said.

"And she'll accept it," George finished.

Ron shrugged his shoulder, "I want to be an Auror."

Rose wasn't surprised by his answer, but she had to actually think about hers. What were her goals? On one hand, she wanted to be an Auror like her father had been and Sirius was, and on the other she wanted to be a teacher. But then again, Bill had mentioned becoming a curse breaker, and that appealed to her adventurous side. Finally, she sighed and shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. I think my goal is just to be happy."

They all nodded in appreciation of her goal before Harry said his, "Personally, I want to be an Auror just like dad and Sirius."

He then nodded his head at Ron who blubbered for a moment before just shouting out his first idea, "What's your favorite food?"

Rose was the first to answer, she smiled happily, "Remus's lasagna. It's perfect."

"Well, mine is Pork Chops," Fred offered.

"Mine is Mashed Potatoes," George added.

"Turkey," Harry simply said.  
"I don't know how to choose," Ron muttered with a slight blush. "But probably those special birthday cakes mum makes."

He then nodded in the general direction of the twins who looked at each other for a moment before saying simultaneously, "What's your best trait? Ours is our dashing good looks," they said with roguish winks.

"Mine is my loyalty," Ron said immediately.

"My intelligence," Rose said.  
"My bravery," Harry proudly stated.

Rose yawned quietly, which didn't go unnoticed by the boys, "Maybe we should all go to sleep?" Harry offered.  
"Yeah it is 10, after all," Fred said, checking his watch.

They all climbed into their blanket fort, with George on the left side, Fred to his right, Rose to Fred's right, Harry to hers, and Ron to Harry's. They were all asleep very quickly.

Through the night the houselves grumbled at their choice of where to sleep but set their presents under the tree in the corner of the common room. So when they awoke in the morning and crawled out of their fort, they passed all the presents around and tore their piles open.

Rose, of course, took the longest to open up her pile, each present representing someone important to her.

The top parcel was wrapped in thick brown paper and scrawled across it was To Rose, From Hagrid. Inside the package was hand picked potions ingredients from the inside of the Forbidden Forest. "Wicked," Rose muttered as she moved to the next package.

She torn open the parcel that she knew held her yearly Weasley sweater and held it up for the others inspection, laughing at their low whistles. Everyone knew that Mrs. Weasley put in extra effort to hers and Ginny's sweaters, and it showed in this particular creation. It was a Ravenclaw blue with a golden R in the front. Her sweater was a bit lower cut than the rest of the boys and the twins noticed at once even though they knew that she hadn't noticed them that particular day. She hummed in contentment, eating a bite of the homemade fudge that Mrs. Weasley always sent.

She eagerly opened her package from Remus, her eyes going wide as she saw the diary inside of it. The note that it held on the first page read simply, _If you and Harry are anything like we were, you'll need this to keep track of what all is happening at Hogwarts and Beyond._ The diary itself was simple, but while thumbing through the thin book she recognized that the pages would never run out. She smiled and took the little book holding it close to her before setting it aside and grabbing the package that was obviously from Sirius.

Hurriedly written across the top was, To Cubette, From Uncle Padfoot. She slowly opened the small, golden wrapped package and smiled when she saw a small velvet box inside. Opening it she saw a silver heart on the chain, with the words _Padfoot's Girl_ emblazoned on the front. Smiling happily she put the necklace on.

She then opened up her present from Harry and found that it was a beautiful quill. She assumed it was from Fawkes, as he and her brother had always gotten along, and thanked Harry profusely for the obviously expensive gift.

The twins had gotten her a book on pranking (she could tell it was a hand-me-down, but she was touched anyways) that she hugged them for, not noticing their look at each other over her shoulders.

Ron had simply gotten her chocolate, which she was fine with, as that's what she had gotten him too. Hermione had gotten her chocolate too, much to her amusement as she knew the girls parents were dentists.

Percy got her _Hogwarts Houses and Their Importance_ , which made her smile and look down, knowing that he was the only one that had actually picked up on her fear of being anywhere that wasn't Gryffindor.

She then looked at Harry, who was staring at a package in front of him strangely, "What is it Harry?" She asked.

"It's for us. Doesn't say who it's from," he muttered, moving over so he was beside her. They opened it together and a silvery light cloak fell out.

"No…" They both whispered.

"That's an invisibility cloak," The Weasley's chorused.

"Look, a note!"

Rose quickly grabbed the note and read it. It was written in strangely familiar narrow, loopy handwriting.

 _Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you both. Use it well._

 _A Very Merry Christmas to you._

There was no signature. Rose passed the letter to her twin and picked up the cloak, wrapping it around herself, watching as she disappeared. She could almost feel her father and his friends laughing underneath it, and she closed her eyes smiling happily.

"Harry, you should hold onto it. It was passed down from Father to Son normally, according to Sirius. I'll probably borrow it on occasion, but it's yours."

Harry nodded mutely and hugged his sister close once she took off the cloak. They knew they didn't need to speak, they just slipped into an old habit.

 _Thank you._ She read from Harry's mind.

 _It's what dad would've done._ Tears filled her eyes for a moment, thinking of what they had lost, and Harry just held her closer, moving so they were both sitting.

"You realize it's creepy when you too do that, right?" Ron muttered.

Fred and George glared at their younger brother, "And what about when we do it?"

"Well, you guys are supposed to. Their… Not," He finished lamely.

Fred and George stared at each other, communicating silently as Harry and Rose had just done before they both sighed and shook their head, "Younger brothers."

Rose laughed and shook her head, "I'm lucky, I only have an older brother."

Harry looked at her, their eyes meeting. _I thought you were mad about that?_

 _Always._

Harry laughed out loud at that and shook his head.

Fred and George pulled them out of themselves, though, "So! Rose, thank you for the potions ingredients!" Fred crowded, pulling her in between his twin and himself.

"Yeah, and these pranking plans are brilliant!" George crowed excitedly.

"You didn't," Percy Weasley groaned as he came down from the boys stairs.

"I did," She muttered with a blush.

"Hey, you're not wearing your sweater!" Fred noted.

"Let's fix that!" George yelled as he ran over to Percy wrenching the sweater from his arm.

"P for Prefect! Get it on, Percy, come on we're all wearing our, even Harry and Rose got them and are going to wear them."

At the look they received from George, Rose and Harry rapidly put their sweaters on.

"I - don't - want -" said Percy thickly, as the twins forced the sweater over his head, knocking his glasses askew.

"And you're not sitting with the prefects today, either," said George. "Christmas is a time for family."

Before they could march him from the common room, Rose stood quickly, "Wait!"

They both looked at her in surprise but followed orders.

"You both are being terribly rude," she huffed, as she helped Percy properly get his sweater on, not noticing his blush. "You two should be nice to him, he helped keep everyone safe this last Halloween, and he has a lot on his plate with O.W.L.'s this year."

Fred and George just stared dumbfounded at her as she walked away with Percy, actually thanking him for the book he had gotten her, and they turned to see a bemused Harry.

"What just happened?" They muttered with dazed expressions.

"My sister just happened," Harry stated while Ron sniggered.

Dinner that night was exquisite. With Rose squished between George and Fred, (which she was becoming accustomed to) she marveled at the sheer amount of food in front of her. A hundred fat, roast turkey; mountains of roast and boiled potatoes; platters of Chipotle's; tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce - and stacks of wizard crackers every few feet along the table. Fred and Harry pulled one and it went off with a blast like a cannon and engulfed them all in a cloud of blue smoke, while from the inside exploded a rear admiral's hat and several live, white mice. Up at the High Table, Dumbledore had swapped his pointed wizard's hat for a flowered bonnet, and was chuckling merrily at a joke Professor Flitwick had just read him.

Flaming Christmas puddings followed the turkey. Percy nearly broke his tooth on a Sickle that was embedded in his slice, although he calmly pushed aside Rose's worry about how safe it was. Rose, in her own slice, had found a thimble and blushed when Harry laughed at her.

"Shut up! It's not like I even want to date anyone soon anyways!" She hissed into his ear, glaring at him when he just laughed harder.

Rose watched Hagrid getting redder and redder in the face as he called for more wine, finally kissing Professor McGonagall on the cheek, who, to everyone's amazement, giggled and blushed, her top hat lopsided.

When Rose left the table with the Weasley's and Harry, they were laden down with a stack of things out of the crackers, including a pack on non-explodable, luminous balloons, a Grow-Your-Own-Warts kit, and a wizard chess set. The white mice had disappeared and Rose had the sinking suspicion that she was going to find one on her pillow as a present from Maple.

The Potter twins and the Weasley's spend a happy afternoon having a furious snowball fight on the grounds. Then, cold, wet, and gasping for breath, they returned to the fire in the Gryffindor common room, where Harry lost spectacularly at a game of Wizards chess.

After a meal of turkey sandwiches, crumpets, trifle, and Christmas cake, everyone felt too full and sleepy to do much before bed except sit and watch Percy chase Fred and George all over Gryffindor tower because they'd stolen his prefect badge.

"You could have woken me up," said Ron, crossly.

"You can come tonight, I'm going back, I want to show you the mirror."

"What mirror?" Rose interjected as she sat across from them.

"Bloody hell!" Ron yelped as he had thought they were alone at the table.

"What mirror?" Rose repeated.

"'Dunno. I saw mum and dad though."

Rose's eyes widened and she walked farther into the room, "You have to take me!"

"Alright. Tonight then."

"Have some bacon or something, why aren't you eating anything?" Ron asked.

But Rose knew and she shook her head, "It was probably just a shock seeing them Ron. No big deal, he'll feel better lately.

Later that night Rose went with Ron and Harry to the room that held the mirror. _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi,_ Rose read and frowned, recognizing the phrase from somewhere, but not knowing where from. At her brother's motion, she stood in front of it and gasped quietly, it really _did_ show her parents. She frowned slightly, though, noting that there was also Remus and Sirius there, and, looking closer on either side of her stood- "Fred? George?" She gasped as she moved back.

"What?" Harry asked in confusion, looking into the mirror.

"There's mum and dad, Sirius, Remus, Fred and George. I"m… I'm older, and Sirius and Remus are hugging, and mum and dad are hugging and Fred and George are… there." She muttered, knowing better than to mention that they were holding her hands and laughing at something. She then stared at the Mirrors words again.

 _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi_. It was obviously some code, but even as she tried t figure it out, Harry and Ron were discussing what Ron saw

"I'm alone- but I'm different- I look older- and I'm Head Boy!"

" _What_?"

"I am- I'm wearing the badge like Bill used to- and I'm holding the House Cup and the Quidditch cup- I'm Quidditch captain, too!"

Rose gasped and pulled their attention from the mirror to herself, "We need to go!"

"Why?" Harry asked, looking rather angry.

"That's the Mirror of Erised. It shows… We just have to go, Harry."

Rose beggingly looked into her brother's eyes, letting her fear and uncertainty show, and he sighed as they all left, looking back at the mirror longingly.

Rose was too out of it when she got back to the common room to notice the twins trying to get her attention, and walked in a daze into her room.

" _Fred and George?_ " She muttered in disbelief. Were they part of her greatest heart's desire? She shuddered slightly, how would she ever be able to face them now?

Down in the common room, Fred and George looked at each other in confusion. Why had Rose ignored them? Where had she gone with Harry and Ron?

Looking at each other they silently expressed their concern for the younger girl and sighed as they stood and went into their dorm.

"Do you think she'll be alright?" George asked as he and his twin changed into pajamas.

"I guess so," Fred muttered. "And if she isn't we'll coax it out of her what's wrong."  
"True."

They looked at each other, a mutual understanding passing through them. They both had a crush on Rose Potter, and they hoped they were going to be able to have her, even if it was only one of them who was able to have her, although the idea of sharing seemed even better in their minds.

"You know… We can't force her feelings," George sighed, crawling into his twins bed out of habit.

"Yeah," Fred said, laying next to his twin. "I know. Let's just hope she can see how amazing we are, yeah?"

George laughed and the twins yawned and slowly fell asleep, thinking the same thing, that sharing Rose Potter would be perfect because they had always shared everything, but they both knew they just wanted her for themselves too.

* * *

Hello everyone! I was just wondering what you all thought of the idea of Fred and George 'sharing' Rose when they were older! I hope you all enjoy the story as it progresses!

-SylviaSnape98


	6. Chapter 6

Rose woke and groaned quietly, not quite sure how she was going to handle the upcoming day. She had kept talking to Fred and George, and as she did she had realized that perhaps the mirror was onto something.

She was not prepared for the embarrassment that came along with it, though.

"So, the other twins," Harry said as he sat down. "I mean, you do have a lot in common."

"What are you on about Harry?" Rose said with mild irritation, having been pulled from her research for transfiguration.

"The Mirror."

Rose glared harshly at her twin, and delved deep into his mind, seething with rage.

 _Why are you bringing that up?!_

 _Because now I know what the mirror is. I was also told it can make you insane, but somehow I don't think that's an issue for you._ Harry smiled mirthfully at his twin.

Rose huffed in annoyance, not noticing that their silent conversation was garnering attention. _Well, neither do you, dear brother!_

Harry stood up and laughed, shaking his head as he walked away, but Rose had noticed worry in his eyes, and she knew that he was getting nightmares, just like she had been. Flashes of green light and cackling filled her brain and she sighed, pulling out parchment and her quill from Harry to write a letter to Remus and Sirius.

 _ **Dear Remus and (hopefully) Sirius,**_

 _ **First of all, thank you for the marvelous Christmas presents. The journal is helping me work through some things, and the necklace makes me feel like I'm at home. I hope you, Remus, enjoyed the pictures I've sent you so far, and that you, Sirius, liked the bracelet I sent. I figured leather and silver would be okay.**_

 _ **I remember, when Harry and I were much younger, you told us to come to you if we ever had any issues about anything. Well, there's an issue that has arisen. I've been having nightmares, and I think it may be about the day that Mum and Dad died. I can't be sure, though. The nightmare only consists of a flash of green light and a really high-pitched laugh.**_

 _ **I just thought I'd write to tell you both that I miss you, and I hope that I can see you both over Easter Holliday.**_

 _ **-Cubette**_

After writing and proofreading the letter, Rose walked to the owlery, and held her arm out for Galen, smiling as the proud owl swooped onto her arm.

"Hullo," she muttered as she tied the letter to his outstretched leg. "Take this to Remus and Sirius, alright?"

Galen hooted and affectionately nipped at her earlobe before flying off to wherever her caretakers were.

"Well, look what we have here," A familiar voice sneered, and Rose whipped around to see Draco Malfoy standing behind her, thankfully with no one else.

"Draco!" She said with a smile.

"Hullo, Rose. No one here, then?"

"No one," Rose said as she hugged him. "I have a present for you!"

Draco looked at her and then smiled, "I have something for you too."

They both reached into their bags and exchanged packages. Eagerly ripping her package open, Rose gasped as she looks at the beautiful pin. It was a golden lion with a Slytherin green eye. She laughed at the irony, watching him open the Snake pin with one Gryffindor red eye. They laughed together, and securely pinned them to the inside of their cloaks, so that way no one would know.

"Well, Draco, I'm sorry to cut this short but we need to go, just in case someone shows up."

Draco nodded in understanding and hugged her again, wishing her a belated Christmas before she left the owlery.

Rose, was bored. This seemed to be commonplace for her now, as with the Twins at Quidditch Practice the only one she really got to talk to was Lee, and although he had a brilliance all of his own, it nowhere near matched Fred or Georges.

"I don't understand why they've been practicing so much, Lee," Rose said with a sigh, as she leaned onto the dreadlock haired boy's shoulder.

"Well, I mean, if they win their next match against Hufflepuff they overtake Slytherin in the championship."

"So?"

"Merlin, you really _aren't_ a Quidditch girl, are you?"

"Really not. But why does it matter?"

"Because that'll be the first time they have in seven years."

Rose groaned, still not quite understanding everyone's obsession with the sport. Sure, it was enjoyable to watch, but without the proper charms on a broom, it hurt the players bottoms after a while.

"I've got it!" She crowed, drawing attention from some of the people in the room.

"Yeah?" Lee asked, suddenly nervous.

"They practice so much to build up resilience against their bums getting hurt!" Lee and those who had been listening in started laughing, "No, no, think about it! If they didn't, then every time they sat on the broom for a while their bum would start hurting! What Oliver is doing in brilliant!"

Lee just laughed harder and shook his head, before one of the other older boys came over and sat with us, for some reason instantly sobering Lee.

"You're Rose Potter right?" The mysterious boy asked.

"That's my name, yes," She replied, subconsciously moving her bangs to hide her scar.

"Nice to meet you, Rose, I'm Brenard Hardy, half-blood, like you," his voice sounded rather pretentious, but Rose said nothing as she shook the boy's hand. He looked older than the Weasley twins and lee, and she didn't like the way that his watery green eyes stared at her.

"Nice to meet you, Hardy," She muttered, pulling her hand from his.

"I'm a fourth year, and if you ever need help with homework, I'm there. And when you're ready, I'll teach you to ride a broom," his face had taken on a leer, and although some of the older boys were laughing, Lee looked outraged, as did Percy.

"Oi!" They both shouted as Percy rushed over, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Back off, Hardy!" Lee continued.

"Oooooh, I see, you have crushes on little Miss Rose here, don't you?" Rose was looking at Percy and Lee in confusion.

Percy, seeing that there could be an issue when the twins heard about this, leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Go to your dorm for a while, Rose, I'll write you when it's safe."

Rose got up and walked to her dorm, feeling the stares of many males around her, and for the first time in her life, she felt unsafe at Hogwarts.

When the Weasley twins and Harry walked into the common room ahead of the rest of the team, they didn't realize they were walking into something terrible.

"Why'd you send her off like that, Weasley?" The twins immediately looked angry as they heard their enemy, Brenard Hardy, yell at their brother.

"Guys?" Harry mumbled.

"Get, Harry. It's not going to be pretty tonight," George mumbled, his twin seeing too much read to answer.

As Harry scurried towards his dorm, knowing when the twins were angry it was bad news, the boy who had yelled at Percy yelled after him, "Hey, Potter! Tell your pretty little twin to get back down here!"

Now, not only were the twins seeing red but so was Harry. " _What_ did you say?"

He was slowly turning around, and saw the much larger boy sneering, "Yeah, you heard me! I still have to teach her how to ride my broom!"

Harry had never felt such rage, he knew what he was talking about, and before the twins could stop him, he had rushed over to the still sitting Hardy.

"What's your name?"

"Brenard Hardy."

"Okay, _Hardy_ ," Harry spat. "Say that to my face."

Hardy stood, and although his was a good foot and a half taller than Harry was, Harry didn't back down. "I said, I need to teach her how to ride my broom."

Before anyone could react, or stop him Harry had punched Hardy so hard in the nose that there was a loud crack and blood gushed everywhere, the whole common room gasped as Hardy fell to the ground, " _Never_ talk about _my_ sister like that. I've taken on a troll before, but you're more stupid and ugly than it was by far." Harry growled out, massaging his bruised knuckles.

Percy sighed, and pulled Harry away from Hardy, pointing his wand at the boy's nose, "Eskipey." There was another sickening crack as his nose went back into place and he yelled out.

"20 points from Gryffindor, for insulting one of your own," Percy sighed. "And 20 points to Gryffindor, for standing up to those who are wrong."

With a wave of his wand, one of the older boys cleared away the blood and patted Harry on the shoulder. "Good on ya, mate. He deserved it." Harry didn't stick around, he just headed to his dorm, still in a seething rage about someone insinuating that they were going to do _that_ with _his_ younger sister. He missed the looks that the Weasley twins were giving Hardy as he scurried out of the common room.

They watched as Percy glared after Hardy before massaging his own knuckles and heading to his dorm, yelling out behind him, "No more funny business!"

George snorted, "Oh, it won't be funny for Hardy."

Fred nodded, "But it'll make _us_ laugh."

First, they needed the whole story, and they knew just where to get it from. "Lee," They both muttered together. They cornered their friend and got all of the details out of him, and as they seethed with more rage, they watched as Rose came down the stairs. They hadn't realized that their own common room could be dangerous for the girl, and now all they wanted was to hold her close and keep her safe.

Rose was sitting on her bed, wishing she could go down, and then saw Percy's owl, Hermes at her window and quickly opened it,

 _ **Rose,**_

 _ **It's safe. Your brother is in his dormitory destroying things. He understood what Hardy meant, and if you don't by the end of the school year, I'll tell you when you visit our house this summer.**_

 _ **-Percy**_

Rose walked down the stairs in a bit of a daze, and soon had the Weasley twins flanking her. "You alright?" They asked together.

"Yeah… I just… Don't know what happened there."

The twins shared a look and shrugged their shoulders, "You'll learn eventually-" Fred started.

"After all-" George continued.

"You're a very intelligent witch," They finished together.

Rose blushed at the compliment and although she didn't feel intelligent at that moment, she didn't argue.

And thus, the twins and Rose went to the Library, much to the twin's annoyance. They watched as she scoured over defensive spells and sighed, knowing that had they been there, there would be no need for her to. They put their heads together and silently talked to each other on how best to prank Hardy.

The next morning everyone in the great hall was acting normal, until one Brenard Hardy walked in, his whole body glittering, and his hair a bright pink.  
Everyone stopped talking for a moment before the obnoxiously loud laughter started.

"You!" His yell was barely heard over the crowd as he stormed towards the Weasley twins, who had Rose nestled in between them.

Everything immediately quieted down, the gossip mills up and running. Everyone knew of Hardy's intense hatred for the twins, and if he was going to accuse them of doing this, then perhaps there was a reason the twins had finally acted.

"Yes?" The twins asked chipperly, not noticing that McGonagall was getting up and heading their way.

"You did this!"

"No we didn't," George said.

"Yeah, we would've died you green like the coward you are." Fred finished.

Rose frowned and noticed how close McGonagall was when an idea popped into her head, "Perhaps if you hadn't offered to teach me how to ride your broom I wouldn't have had to do this to you." She said, just loud enough for McGonagall to hear.

" _What_ did I just hear?" McGonagall's voice was low and dangerous, and the twins looked at Rose in shock.

"He said he wanted to teach me how to ride his broom, Professor," Rose said, a devious glint in her eyes. "And after I researched what he could possibly mean I just… I was so disgusted, I couldn't stand by and do nothing."

"Detention, Miss Potter," Professor McGonagall muttered. "And _you_ Mister Hardy, are coming with me." And she swept her way out of the great hall, looking doubly as intimidating as Snape could ever hope to be.

"Rose," Fred and George turned to her looking at her in shock. "Why'd you say that?"

"You know what he meant?" Fred continued.

"Oh, no, I don't. I just made a deduction that it was a bad thing based off of everyone's reaction," Rose said with a shrug as she turned back to her food.

"Why'd you take the fall for us?" George asked.

"You're my friends. It's worth it."

Fred and George smiled brilliantly and went back to eating, constantly looking around until the proper opportunity arose, and they both placed sloppy kisses on her cheeks. Rose's face turned redder than her hair, and she looked at them in confusion, "What was that for?"

"Being the best," The twins chorused.

Rose rolled her eyes and got all of her stuff together, hugging the twins and Lee before walking to her class.

"You both have got the hots for her?" Lee said in a near whisper, leaning across the table to them.

"Hush," They both said with a deadly glare.

Rose served her detention with McGonagall, being told that she was going to be cleaning the Transfiguration classroom. She came in, prepared to do whatever was necessary, but what she saw instead a perfectly clean classroom, and Professor McGonagall smiling at her with a plate of biscuits.

"Have a biscuit, Potter."

Rose took one of the offered biscuits and munched on it, looking at her Professor in confusion.

"Miss Potter, I gave you detention to discuss something with you, not actually punish you," McGonagall said with a small smile.  
Rose almost spat the biscuit out, but managed to choke it down, muttering a dry, "What?"

"Yes, it's very shocking," McGonagall said with a laugh. "I just wanted to thank you for bringing Mr. Hardy's… actions to light. I did, however, know that you were lying when you said you knew what he meant, so I decided to let you sweat it out a little. Did it work?"

Rose laughed, a genuine laugh, "Oh, yes it did. I was concerned that my actions were all for nothing." Rose became serious once more. "But I am sorry. About lying I mean. I just… I knew that you knowing what had happened was important, and the twins weren't going to do anything besides provoke him more and… I had never seen Percy get _angry_ before Professor. So I knew _something_ had to happen."

McGonagall nodded her head and sighed quietly, "I hope you know that I have to tell your guardians about this."

Rose nodded her head and sighed, "Sirius'll probably be proud. Remus… Remus'll probably worry. But to be honest, Professor, I'm worried too. I'm trying to learn defensive spells now, and I just don't know what I'm doing."

Professor McGonagall nodded and spent the rest of their detention teaching Rose how to defend herself with basic spells.

Soon the Quidditch match that the Gryffindor team had been practicing for so avidly came and found Ron, Hermione, Rose and Neville squished together. Rose and Neville sat close together, not sure why their friends appeared so grim.

Snape looked positively livid, though, and suddenly Rose realized that her friends were stuck on the fact that they believed Snape had tried to jinx Harry's broom.

"I've never seen Snape look so mean," he told Hermione. "Look- they're off. Ouch!"

Draco had poked Ron in the back of his head. Rose steadily ignored him.

"Oh, sorry, Weasley, didn't see you there."

Draco grinned at Crabbe and Goyle.

"Wonder how long Potter's going to stay on his broom this time? Does anyone want a bet? What about you, Weasley?"

Ron didn't answer, much to Rose's surprise; Snape had awarded Hufflepuff a penalty because George had sent bludger at him. Hermione and Rose were just staring fixedly at Harry, who was circling above the field like a hawk.

Rose had lost concentration on what Draco was saying, and she was sure he noticed, but she jumped up with Hermione when Harry fell into a spectacular dive. He streaked towards the ground like a bullet.

"Come on, Harry!" Hermione screamed, leaping onto her seat to watch as Harry sped straight at Snape- neither she nor Rose noticed Malfoy and Ron rolling around under her seat, or the whirl of yelps and fists that was Neville, Goyle, and Crabbe.

In the air, Snape Turned on his broomstick just in time to see something scarlet shoot at him, missing him by inches- the next second, Harry had pulled out of the dive, his arm raised in triumph, the Snitch clasped in his hand.

The stands erupted; it had to be a record, no one could ever remember the snitch being caught so quickly.

Hermione and Rose were dancing around hugging each other, still not noticing the boys, as Rose stared at her twin.

He jumped off the broom a foot off the ground, and as Gryffindors, including Rose, spilled onto the field, she watched as Dumbledore patted his shoulder and said something. She didn't have much time to dwell on the matter, though, because soon the twins had swept her into their arms laughing and bouncing her.

"We won! We won!" They both yelled.

Rose was laughing happily and hugged the twins back, "That was brilliant! But George Weasley, you didn't need to provoke Snape like that!"

He shrugged and laughed, both twins leaving her to get changed.

Rose headed back to the common room with Hermione, after dropping Neville off at the Hospital wing, as Crabbe and Goyle had knocked him out. Hermione was shaking her head and Rose sighed.

"Boys," Rose muttered.

"Boys," agreed Hermione.

Rose shook her head and looked at the girl that walked next to her, "And to think, we're both in all boy groups."

Hermione and Rose stopped walking and looked at each other, Hermione with sudden tears filling her eyes, "Promise not to forget about me, Rose."

Rose blinked in surprise then hugged her friend close, "Never. Us girls have to stick together."

Hermione's eyes twinkled with happiness and unshed tears, as she looked into Rose's much more controlled hazel eyes, and smiled brightly at the first real friend she had, "Can we do something? I watched other girls at my primary school do it."

"Sure, what is it?"

Hermione took Rose's hand and hooked their pinky fingers together, making a fist otherwise, and kissed her thumb, looking at Rose, urging her to do the same. When Rose kissed her own thumb Hermione smiled brightly and released Rose's pinky from her pinky's grasp.

"That's what they call a pinky promise. Apparently you can't break those."

Rose laughed and nodded, "I wouldn't break a promise to you anyways."

They walked to the common room and crossed paths with Fred, George, and Ron.

"Ready for a party?" Fred said with a smirk.

"Yeah, we got the refreshments," George continued.

"But we're looking at the more refreshing things here," they finished together.

Hermione's and Rose's faces flushed red and they stuttered their thanks out, never having been truly flirted with before, and not understanding how saying something so simple could cause their stomachs to flip like they had.

Fred and George allowed the girls and Ron to walk into the common room before them and laughed at the girls faces, not even having meant to flirt originally. They all noticed that Harry wasn't there, but the party went on, with Rose, Fred, and George laughing at jokes they made back and forth, and with Hermione and Ron eagerly awaiting Harry's arrival.

Rose was getting tired rapidly, and yawned, leaning her head on George's shoulder, letting him wrap his arm around her. She could feel herself slowly falling asleep, and was grateful that no one tried to send her to bed. That was one of the many things she enjoyed about the twins company, was that they never sent her away.

She never noticed the look the twins shared over her shoulder as she slipped into sleep.

"You guys actually like her, don't you?" Lee whispered to Fred and George motioning his head to the sleeping girl.

"Yeah. She's a good girl," Fred said.

"And neither of you are good," Lee whispered with a smirk.

"Never wanted to be," George said, brushing hair out of Rose's sleeping face.

"Never will be," Fred continued.

Lee rolled his eyes, and smiled at the twins, "So, when are you gonna tell her?"

"When she's older," they chorused.

"You'll be older too," Lee noticed.

"Yeah. That's the point of waiting, mate," George said.

Little did they know that their words had entered Rose's dream, and she dreamt of the boys and her being together for the rest of the night.

The next morning Rose woke to find that she was on the couch asleep with a blanket draped over her and that Fred and George were laying in front of the couch. Rose's giggle woke them both as they were notoriously light sleepers. They smiled at her and stood stretching their aching backs, "How'd you sleep, Rose?" They chorused.

"Just fine, thank you," Rose said, trying to fight the blush that covered her cheeks.

She was saved when an owl swooped in through the open window and she quickly snatched the letter from it, recognizing it as Agatha, Remus's owl.

"Thank you, girl."

 ** _To Cubette_** , the outside of the letter read. She ripped it open and started reading it avidly, having sent the letter to them near a month ago.

 ** _Rose,_**

 ** _Sorry about replying to you so late, but I wanted Sirius's opinion on what I was going to say to you, as he is your legal guardian. Rose, you need to start documenting these dreams so you can tell us exactly what happens as if we don't know we may never be able to stop them._**

 ** _We loved your presents, Sirius brags about how thoughtful you are all the time, and won't stop staring at the picture's you've sent. You're a very beautiful girl, Rose, remember that._**

 ** _Also, don't come home during Easter holiday, we're making a surprise for you and Harry._**

 ** _-Remus and Sirius_**

Rose sighed and threw the letter into the roaring fire of their common room, ignoring Fred and George's worried looks.

"Let's all get ready and go to breakfast," she muttered, walking away from them and up to her dorm.

"What was that about?" Fred wondered as George shook his head and they both went to get ready for the day.


	7. Chapter 7

Rose was in an unshakeable funk for the rest of the week. She permeated her time with the twins with time spent with Hagrid, who was more than happy to spend time with the Lily-look-a-like.

She also started studying for exams, with the help of the twins and was generally much calmer about the matter than Hermione was. She shook her head, not appreciating panicking about the matter, but understanding why Hermione was so nervous. She imagined it was panic inducing for anyone who wasn't used to the wizarding world, or the information that it held.

She once joined Harry, Ron, and Hermione on a trip to the library, and when she returned she had vowed to never do it again, much to the twins amusement.

What the twins didn't understand about her, was that she had started frequenting McGonagall's office, always coming back practically glowing with pride, and they started trying to figure out how to spy on her. Before they got the chance to, however, Lee walked up to Rose.

"So, what's up with going to McGonagall's so often?" He asked.

"Oh!" Rose blushed and the twins felt their stomachs twist uncomfortably. "She's teaching me how to defend myself. After what went down with Hardy, she didn't want to let me worry about being unprotected."

Lee nodded and frowned. Although the twins had gotten back at Hardy for his inappropriate comments they all still harbored a grudge against the boy. "Well, just so you know, if you ever want to practice against less powerful people than McGonagall, just ask me or the twins."

Rose nodded and smiled a brilliant smile at Lee, getting up and hugging him. "Thank you, Lee, that means a lot to me." She then giggled and ran off to the girls room.

Fred and George shook their head at the strange girl and shrugged their shoulders when Loo looked at them, "Got no clue."

They went up to their room and sighed wondering what had gotten into Rose.

What they didn't know, was that they were walking into a trap. As soon as they sat on their beds there was a flash of light and their hair turned from red to pink. They yelped, and jumped out of their beds at the flash of light, but only saw that their hair had turned pink when they went to check on each other. They stared at each other in shock for a moment before laughing loudly, and charging down into the common room, ignoring people's calls asking about their obviously backfired prank.

"ROSE!" Fred yelled up the girls stairs.

"Come down here! We won't hurt you!" Yelled George.

"We just want to compliment you!" They yelled together.

They backed away from the stairs and watched as Rose stepped onto the stairs, giggling with no intention of going within arms reach of them. "You look good with pink hair."

Fred opened his mouth to say something inappropriate before George elbowed him and smirked up at the girl, "I imagine you would too. Want to make the switch?"

She laughed and shook her head, not noticing the boys putting their foot on the stairs. There was a loud, wailing, klaxon-like sound and the steps melted together to make a long, smooth stone slide. Rose squealed and fell into the Weasley twin's arms while laughing like mad.

More girls soon followed suit, and the Weasley twins moved Rose out of the way and quickly, and silently, cast a spell so that her hair was pink too.

"Guys!" She yelled still laughing happily.

"You know, we should pay you guys to do that every so often," Alicia Spinnet said with a laugh, putting her hand on George's shoulder.

"Yeah, It's such a good stress reliever," Katie Bell said, placing her hand on Fred's shoulder.

Fred and George bowed dramatically and smirked, "We live to serve."

Rose shook her head, messing with her pink hair, "You should serve me by turning my hair back."

The twins laughed and hugged her, "Only in your dreams," they muttered into her ear.

She laughed and pushed them off of her, yawning quietly, "Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm going to sleep."

The twins pouted at her so she hugged them both again, "Goodnight boys."

"Goodnight, girl," they chorused with sly grins.

Laughing Rose went back to her dorm to go to sleep.

As time passed Rose spent more and more time with the twins and Lee, until the day that Harry, Hermione, and Neville lost them all 150 points. She surprised everyone by standing by her twin when no one else would, and she defended him and Hermione to the end. Neville was in the background, unbothered, and for that she was thankful. She started helping them accumulate more points, but she still spent most of her time with the twins, refusing to tell anyone why she defended Harry and Hermione.

"Rose, why are you bothering with them?" Lee asked one night.

"He's my twin and she's my friend."

"Yeah, well they also lost us 50 points each."

"I'm aware of that, Lee," Rose said, giving Lee a withering glare.

"Well… You know what happened, right?"

"Yes."

This peaked Fred's and George's interest, but they had to make a joke about it, "Mind telling us? Can't have them beating our record of points lost," Fred said.

"Yeah, you can. Besides, maybe Charlie can tell you later," she said with a huff.

"Charlie?" All three of the boys chorused.  
"Yes. Charlie. You can probably ask him."

She shook her head at their shocked expressions, and elaborated, just barely, "Look, they were helping a friend. And McGonagall didn't like what it was about. That's all you need to know."

"It has something to do with what happened to Ron's hand, doesn't it?" George said, connecting the dots.

"Yes."

Rose then collected her things, hugged them all and went to bed, which was the only place she could study in peace anymore.

The night of Harry's and Hermione's detention, Rose stayed up with Ron, waiting for them to return.

"They'll be okay, right?" Mumbled Rose.

"Harry's there, and with his bravery and Hermione's brain's they'll be perfectly fine."

"I hope they keep Neville out of trouble… He was only trying to help them."

Rose yawned and leaned back into the couch, her Potions homework lying in front of her, untouched. Ron yawned when he heard Rose yawn, and they both closed their eyes.

They wouldn't fall asleep, right?

When Harry shook them awake Rose jolted up yelping while Ron shouted something about Quidditch fouls. In a matter of seconds, though, they were as Harry told them all what happened in the forest.

Harry couldn't sit down. He paced up and down in front of the fire. He was still shaking.

"Snape wants the Stone for Voldemort… and Voldemort's waiting in the forest… and all this time we thought Snape just wanted to get rich…"

"Stop saying the name!" Said Ron in a terrified whisper, as if he thought Voldemort could hear them. Rose shook her head, and tried to reach out to comfort her twin, but he wasn't listening or paying attention.

"Firenze saved me, but he shouldn't have done so… Bane was furious… he was talking about interfering with what the planets say is going to happen… They must show that Voldemort's coming back… Bane thinks Firenze should have let Voldemort kill me… I suppose that's written in the stars as well."

" _Will you stop saying the name!"_ Ron hissed.

"So all I've got to wait for now is Snape to steal the Stone," Harry went on feverishly, "then Voldemort will be able to come and finish me off… Well, I suppose Bane'll be happy."

Hermione looked very frightened, but it was nothing to how Rose felt. Rose thought of losing her twin, and of the pain and fear that she already felt, and got up and roughly hugged her twin.

"Harry, everyone says Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was ever afraid of. With Dumbledore around, You-Know-Who won't touch you. Anyway, who says the centaurs are right?" Hermione said with Rose fervently nodding her head against his chest. "It sounds like fortune-telling to me, and Professor McGonagall says that's a very imprecise branch of magic."

The sky had turned light before they stopped talking. Rose hadn't released her brother until she nodded off against his chest and he sent her to bed along with the others. They all went to bed exhausted, their throats sore.

In years to come, Harry and Rose would never quite remember how they had managed to get through their exams when they half expected Voldemort to come bursting through the door at any moment. Yet, the days crept by, and there could be no doubt that Fluffy was still alive and well behind the locked door.

It was sweltering hot, especially in the large classroom where they did their written papers. They had been given special, new quills for the exams, which had been bewitched with an Anti-Cheating spell.

They had practical exams as well. Professor Flitwick called them one by one into his class to see if they could make a pineapple tap-dance across a desk. Professor McGonagall watched them turn a mouse into a snuff box- points were given for how pretty the snuffbox was but taken away if it had whiskers. Snape made them all nervous, breathing down their necks while they tried to remember how to make a Forgetfulness potion.

Rose did the best she could, trying avidly to ignore the stabbing pains in her forehead, which had been bothering her ever since her twins trip into the forest. When she found that her brother had the same problem she grew more worried, although Neville was convinced they had a bad case of exam nerves. Neither of them could sleep, both being woken by their old nightmare, with Harry's even worse as his had a new hooded figure dripping blood in it.

Rose didn't understand her brother's obsession with the Stone, however, as she had dearly hoped that he would never discover its existence. She did, however, start worrying about it constantly, as she believed that even Dumbledore had ulterior motives, but that may have also been due to the burning on her forehead.

Their very last exam was History of Magic. One hour of answering questions about batty old wizards that they had had to study themselves. They needed to know who'd invented self-stirring cauldrons and then they were all free, free for a whole wonderful week until their exam results came out. When the ghost of Professor Binns told them to put down their quills and roll up their parchment, Harry and Rose couldn't help cheering with the rest.

Rose went to hang out with the twins and yawned, leaning on Fred's shoulder before standing straight as they all started tickling the tentacles of the giant squid, which was basking in the warm shallows.

"Tired?" Fred asked.

"Yeah, that exam took a lot out of me. I was glad, though, I knew way more than I needed to know."

"Yeah, that happens when you're brilliant," George said with a smirk.

Rose laughed and sat, watching her boys play with the squid. "I'm just glad there's no more studying," she sighed happily, as she stretched out, rubbing her forehead absentmindedly, feeling the eyes of her twin on her.

"Your scar still bugging you?" Lee questioned as he flopped down next to her, deciding it was too hot to be moving so much.

"Yeah, I wish I knew what it meant."

Rose saw movement out of the corner of her eye and saw Harry, Hermione, and Ron going towards Hagrid's hut. She groaned and just covered her eyes with her right arm.

"What is it?" The twins and Lee asked.

"They're going to do something stupid. I can feel it."

"Well, maybe you should help them?" Lee questioned.

Rose sighed and stood, nodding her head, walking away as she talked, "I will, thanks."

When Rose finally reached Hagrid's hut, Hagrid was talking, "-how many three-headed dogs d'yeh meet, even around Hogwarts? So I told him, Fluff's a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm him down, jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep-"

Hagrid suddenly looked horrified.

"I shouldn'ta told yeh that!" He blurted out. "Forget I said it! Hey- where're yeh goin'?"

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Rose didn't speak to each other at all until they came to a halt in the entrance hall, which seemed very cold and gloomy after the grounds.

"We've got to go to Dumbledore," said Harry. "Hagrid told that stranger how to get past Fluffy, and it was either Snape or Voldemort under that cloak- it must've been easy, once he got Hagrid drunk. I just hope Dumbledore believes us. Firenze might back us up if Bane doesn't stop him. Where's Dumbledore's office?"

"I know how to get there, I just don't know the password, or if he's even there," Rose said, suddenly wishing she knew where the twins hid the map.

A voice suddenly rang across the hall, "What are you four doing inside?"

It was Professor McGonagall, carrying a large pile of books.

"We want to see Professor Dumbledore," said Hermione, rather bravely, Harry and Ron thought.

"See Professor Dumbledore?" Professor McGonagall repeated as though this were a very fishy thing to want to do. Her eyes flickered to Rose. "Why?"

Rose looked at her twin wide-eyed- now what?

"It's sort of a secret," he said, but he wished at once he hadn't because Professor McGonagall's nostrils flared.

"Professor Dumbledore left ten minutes ago," she said coldly. "He recieved an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and flew off to London at once."

"He's _gone_?" Said Harry frantically. " _Now_?"

"Professor Dumbledore is a very great wizard, Potter, he had many demands on his time-"

"But this is important."

Rose almost sighed out loud at her twin.

"Something you have to say is more important than the Ministry of Magic, Potter?"

"Look," said Harry, throwing caution to the wind although he heard his twin begging him not to in his mind, "Professor- it's about the Sorcerer's Stone-"

Whatever Professor McGonagall had expected, it hadn't been that. The books she was carrying tumbled unceremoniously out of her arms, but she didn't pick them up.

"How do you know-?" She spluttered.  
"Professor, I think - I _know_ \- that Sn- that someone's going to try and steal the Stone. I've got to talk to Professor Dumbledore."

She eyed them all with a mixture of shock and suspicion.

"Professor Dumbledore will be back tomorrow," she said finally. "I don't know how you found out about the Stone but rest assured, no one can possibly steal it, it's too well protected."

"But Professor-"

"Potter, I know what I'm talking about," she said shortly. She bent down and gathered up the fallen books. "I suggest you all go back outside and enjoy the sunshine."

But they didn't.

"It's tonight," said Harry, once he was sure Professor McGonagall was out of earshot. "Snape's going through the trapdoor tonight. He's found out everything he needs, and now he's got Dumbledore out of the way. He sent that note, I bet the Ministry of Magic will get a real shock when Dumbledore turns up."

"Harry, I don't think-"

"I know you don't think it's Snape. But-"

Hermione and Rose gasped. Harry and Ron wheeled around. Snape was standing there.

"Good afternoon," he said smoothly.

They stared at him.

"You shouldn't be inside on a day like this," he said, with an odd, twisted smile.

"We were-" Harry began without any idea of what he was going to say.

"You want to be more careful," said Snape. "Hanging around like this, people will think you're up to something. And Gryffindor really can't afford to lose any more points, can it?"

Harry flushed. They turned to go outside, but Snape called them back.

"Be warned, Potter- any more nighttime wanderings and I will personally make sure you are expelled. Good day to you."

He strode off in the direction of the staff room. Out on the stone steps, Harry turned to the others.

"Right, here's what we've got to do," he whispered urgently. "One of us has got to follow Snape- wait outside the staffroom and follow him if he leaves it. Hermione, you'd better do that."

"Why me?"

"It's obvious," said Ron. "You can pretend to be waiting for Professor Flitwick, you know." He put on a high voice, "Oh, Professor Flitwick, I'm so worried, I think I got question fourteen _b_ wrong…"

"Oh, shut up," said Hermione, but she agreed to go watch out for Snape.

"And we'd better stay outside the third-floor corridor," said Harry to Ron.

"What do I do?" Rose asked.

"You keep safe and out of trouble," Harry said, kissing her forehead in a brotherly manner. "Come on, Ron."

Rose watched as they all walked away and sighed, walking to the Weasley twins, who immediately tried to cheer her up.

"Look, we've got this prank idea-" Fred started.

"- What you do-" George continued.

"-Is you make a potion-"

"-and you get someone to drink it."

"And when they drink it-"

"-They burp bubbles that smell like dungbombs when the pop," they finished together.

Rose smiled half-heartedly, shrugging her robes off as the sun shone more hot suddenly, "Yeah, that sounds complicated, though."

"Every good prank is," George said as he also took his robe off, his twin soon following suit.

They stayed and just talked for a long while, only heading inside when absolutely necessary.

That night Rose had terrible nightmares, of Devil's Snare, Flying keys, a giant chess set, potions, and a troll. She awoke screaming bloody murder as her scar flared to life and she thrashed around her bed.  
"Get Professor McGonagall!" She heard Pavarti yelled as she whipped back the curtains surrounding Rose's bed. Rose was writhing in pain as Lavender ran out of the room. Girls started crowding around the door to her room as Parvati tried to calm Rose.  
"You're okay, you're okay-"

" _HARRY!"_ Rose screamed, her voice becoming hoarse.  
"Out of the way! McGonagall yelled as she entered the room, taking in the situation. "Rose!"

Rose kept thrashing as McGonagall cast a spell on her to raise her out of the bed.

"Someone, immobilize her!" She heard McGonagall yell as she levitated her out of the room. Rose tried to scratch at her scar, but she heard someone yell "Petrificus Totalus!"

Rose's limbs snapped to her sides, and her jaw clamped shut. Tears streamed out of her eyes as McGonagall moved her to the Hospital Wing.

"Another one?!" Madame Pomfrey's anxious voice sounded.

"What do you mean?"

Before Madame Pomfrey could answer, Dumbledore looked at Rose, his eyes twinkling, before a jet of red light flew straight at her and there was only blackness.

There was warmth surrounding her. She groaned, it was too hot, she didn't want it to be this hot. She must be on fire! Rose tried to squirm away from the heat and soon felt it leave her. She sighed, realizing she wasn't on fire.

"Rose?" A familiar voice called to her. Who was it? Whoever it was they sounded worried to death.

"Cubette?" The voice tried again. Was that Sirius?

She groaned, trying to tell him that she heard him, that she knew he was there.

"Moony, Moony, wake up!" Sirius hissed as he prodded his friend awake. "She's getting up!"

Rose blinked slowly, the worried but happy faces of her guardians hovering above her.

"Remus? Sirius?" Rose said, trying to move but finding her muscles protesting. "What are you-"

"Stop trying to move," Sirius commanded, his hand brushing against her cheek gently. "You need rest."

"What… What happened?"

"Harry got hurt, and you reacted to it."

"Harry?!" Rose yelped suddenly remembering the immense pain she had felt. " _Harry!_ " She yelled again, trying to get to her feet.

Remus and Sirius pushed her back down, "Stay down, pup." Remus sighed.

"Where is he?! Is he okay?!"

Madame Pomfrey bustled over, "For Merlin's sake! She needs to rest!"

"Well, maybe she would if you had let us put her next to Harry!" Sirius snapped.

Remus groaned, obviously having heard this already, "Look, it's been 2 days, she should, at least, be allowed to be with her twin."

"I am the better half," Rose noted, trying to find where her twin lay.

Remus swooped her into her arms, much to Madame Pomfrey's anger and carried her two beds over to Harry, who looked as if he were peacefully sleeping. He scootched him over and laid her next to him.

They kept arguing as Rose slipped back into sleep.

When Rose awoke next, Harry was waking up too. "The stone!" He gasped.

A light chuckle was heard, and Rose and Harry turned to see Dumbledore. A rage like none other filled Rose, and the only reason she resisted attacking the old man was because her brother was right there. She had asked Dumbledore to protect him, and this is what happened?

"It has been destroyed."

"But Nicholas Flamel-"

"You have done your research, haven't you?" Dumbledore said his eyes twinkling madly.

Rose wanted to punch the twinkle out of his eyes.

"He and his wife will die without the stone-"

"They have enough elixir set aside to set their affairs in order and then, yes, they will die."

Dumbledore chuckled and Rose just closed her eyes, knowing that this conversation wasn't meant for her. "To one as young as you, I'm sure it seem incredible, but to Nicolas and Perenelle, it really is like going to bed after a very, _very_ long day. After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human being would choose about all - the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them."

Harry lay there, lost for words. Dumbledore hummed a little and looked at the ceiling. Rose sighed quietly, curling closer to her twin. Before Harry could talk, Rose questioned Dumbledore.

"How long has Harry been asleep?"

"Three days."

Rose buried her head in her brother's chest, taking his attention from Dumbledore and onto herself.

"Shouldn't you know that, Rose?"

"No. I've been out for two days, and then I just laid here and slept."

Dumbledore, sensing that he had been dismissed, stood. "Well, Harry, Rose, I hope you both heal well."

As he walked out Remus and Sirius walked in and ran towards Harry's bed.

"Harry!" They both yelled.

"Remus? Sirius?"

Remus and Sirius rushed over and hugged Harry and Rose, "We were so worried," they muttered, kissing Harry's head.

"Guys," Harry groaned.

"Get over it, cub," Remus sighed. "We thought you were dead. And Rose didn't take it well either."

Rose blushed and looked at her twin shyly, "Hi, Harry," she muttered.

Harry rolled his eyes, "Worried, were you?"

"I felt your pain."

Harry's eyes went wide and as soon as Sirius and Remus moved back he was holding onto his twin protectively, "I'm sorry Rose… Never again."

"Good."

Rose would've asked him to promise, but she knew better than to make her twin promise something that there was no way he was going to be able to keep.

That night Remus and Sirius went back home now that both of their children were awake, saying that they still had to work on the surprise they were doing for the twins.

Rose was unceremoniously kicked out of the hospital wing the next day despite her protests. She almost turned back around to go back in when the twins excitedly ran up to her.

"You're coming with us!"


	8. Chapter 8

As the Weasley twins forcibly dragged Rose away from the infirmary, Ron and Hermione tried to gain admittance. Rose wryly thought that they'd be lucky too, but was more preoccupied with being dragged away.

"Guys!" She yelled at them, "Stop it!"

They immediately stopped, panic in their eyes, "Did we hurt you?"

"No," Rose begrudgingly answered. "But I would like to know what's going on."

"We just-" Fred started.

"Really missed you," George said with a small smile.

"Yeah, haven't seen you have such a bad dream since you were five." They said together.

"I've never wound up in the hospital for a dream before boys."

They nodded their heads, "We know."

That's when it occurred to Rose, she had the most important people in the world right in front of her. Best friends, practically family, and, to the outside eye, maybe even a bit more. These boys in front of her had obviously worried to an amazing extent about her and her health and had likely gotten no answers.

Suddenly overcome by emotion, Rose reached forward and hugged the two boys, finally paying heed to her crush on them, and admitting that perhaps it wasn't a terrible thing. "We have a lot to talk about."

She followed their lead to an abandoned classroom and started telling them the story of her year, and what she had been trying to keep from her brother. She told them almost every detail, but never mentioned that she had seen them in the Mirror of Erised. She told them how without them she was likely to have gone crazy with her brother and his two best friends, who they all dubbed The Golden Trio. She was glad to not have made that a quartet.

They, in return, told her about the happenings of the school since she had passed out and her twin and best friends had gone to protect the stone.

"The common room was a mess when you left, everyone was panicking, and you know, we ended up getting a detention," George said, tucking a strand of her vibrant red hair behind her ear.

"And how, pray tell, did you get yourselves a detention?" Rose said with a sigh.

"It was Hardy's fault!" George defended.

This caught Rose's attention. "And what did Hardy do?"

"He said that he was the only one that was supposed to make you scream…" Fred muttered angrily.

A trail of fear ran down Rose's back and she frowned nervously, "You told McGonagall right…?"

"Yeah, but that was after cast stinging hexes at him," They said together.

"Guys!"

"He deserved it."

That night, after the twins almost had to forcibly drag Rose to dinner, Rose was greeted with loud whispers and rude stares. She looked down hearing muttered comments about how weak she was, until Lavender defended her, "You know, maybe you're a seer. Or maybe a twin's connection is really that deep."

"I hope I'm not a seer," mourned Rose. "I don't want to know what's going to happen with my life."

Lavender tittered and went back to eating. Rose watched the twins pile food onto their plates and then when she only drank pumpkin juice added some food to her plate too. Her face felt as if it had been caught in a blaze of fire and she glared at each of them in turn, much to Lee's amusement.

"I can take care of myself, boys."

"Then start doing it," they immediately replied.

Shaking her head Rose ate some of the macaroni and cheese they had placed on her plate, noting that it was particularly good for some reason. She ate happily and talked back and forth with the twins, Lee, and Lavender.

The next day went amazingly fast for Rose. She let the twins distract her thoroughly with talks of pranks they all wished to pull off one day. She was more distracted with thoughts of how her twin was doing, though, and went to dinner hoping beyond hope that he would make it.

As she sat in the Great Hall a terrible sadness filled her as her brother didn't immediately appear. She completely ignored the Slytherin colors that covered the surrounding areas. She saw the huge banner that showed the Slytherin serpent that covered the wall behind the High Table, but only thought that it was beautiful. She knew they had won the house cup for the seventh year in a row, but couldn't find it in her to care.

When Harry finally walked into the full Great Hall there was a sudden hush and then everyone started talking loudly at once. Rose cheered for him but stayed in her seat. He slipped into a seat between Ron and Hermione and blushed as he noticed people standing to look at him.

Fortunately for him, Dumbledore arrived moments later. The babble died away.

"Another year gone!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. "And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully, your heads are all a little fuller than they were… you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts…

"Now, as I understand it, the House Cup here needs awarding, and the points stand thus: in fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points; in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two; Ravenclaw has four hundred and twenty-six and Slytherin has Four hundred and seventy-two."

A storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Slytherin table. Rose could see Draco banging his goblet on the table and she shook her head in mild amusement.

"Yes, yes, well done, Slytherin," said Dumbledore. "However, recent events must be taken into account."

The room went very still. They Slytherin's smiles faded a bit.

"Ahem," said Dumbledore. "I have a few last minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yesss

"First- to Mr. Ronald Weasley…"

Ron went purple in the face; he looked like a radish with a sunburn.

"... for the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years. I award Gryffindor House fifty points."

Gryffindor's cheers nearly raised the bewitched ceiling; the stars overhead seemed to quiver. Percy could be heard telling the other prefects, "My brother, you know! My youngest brother! Got past McGonagall's giant chess set!"

At last, there was silence again.

"Second- to Miss Hermione Granger… for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor House fifty points/"

Hermione buried her face in her arms; Rose strongly suspected she had burst into tears. Gryffindors up and down the table were beside themselves- they were a hundred points up.

"Third- to Mr. Harry Potter…" said Dumbledore. The room went deathly quiet. "... for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor House sixty points."

The din was deafening. Rose took both of the twins hands and covered her ears with their hands pressing them to her head with her own, and even that didn't dull the roar. Those who could add up while yelling themselves hoarse knew that Gryffindor now had four hundred and seventy-two points- exactly the same as Slytherin. They had tied for the House Cup- if only Dumbledore had given Harry just one more point.

Dumbledore raised his hands. The room gradually fell silent.

"There are all kinds of courage," said Dumbledore, smiling. "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I, therefore, award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom."

Someone standing outside the Great Hall might well have thought some sort of explosion had taken place, so loud was the noise that erupted from the Gryffindor table. Harry, Ron, Hermione and even Rose stood up to yell and cheer as Neville, white with shock, disappeared under a pile of people hugging him. He had never won so much as a point for Gryffindor before.

"Which means," Dumbledore called over the storm of applause, for even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were celebrating the downfall of Slytherin, "we need a little change of decoration."

He clapped his hands. In an instant, the green hangings became scarlet and the silver became gold; the huge Slytherin serpent vanished and a towering Gryffindor lion took its place. Snape was shaking Professor McGonagall's hand, with a horrible, forced smile.

Rose had almost forgotten that the exam results were still to come, but they did. To her surprise, her brother and Ron had passed with good marks. Even more surprising, to everyone, was that she and Hermione tied for the best grades of the first years. Even Neville scraped through, his good Herbology mark making up for his abysmal Potions one.

And suddenly, their wardrobes were empty, their trunks were packed, Neville's toad was found lurking in a corner of the toilets; notes were handed out to all students, warning them not to use magic over the holidays ("I always hope they'll forget to hand these out," Fred said sadly); Hagrid was there to take them down to the fleet of boats that sailed across the lake; they were boarding the Hogwarts express; talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier; eating Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans as they sped past Muggle towns; pulling off their wizard robes and putting on jackets and coats; pulling into platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross station.

It took quite a while for them all to get off the platform. A wizened old guard was up by the ticket barrier, letting them go through the gate in twos and threes so they didn't attract attention by all bursting out of a solid wall at once and alarming the Muggles.

"You'll come over this summer, yeah?" Fred asked while George draped his arm over Rose's shoulder.

"I always do."

"You know she wouldn't miss it for the world," George said with a smirk.

People jostled them as they moved forward toward the gateway back to the Muggle world. Some of them called:

"Bye, Harry, Rose!'

"See you, Potters!"

"Still famous," said the twins, grinning at her.

"Always and forever," Rose said with a sigh.

She watched as Harry, Ron and Hermione passed through the gateway together, and she stepped up with the twins to wait.

She stepped through to see Harry was already engulfed in Sirius's arms, as Ron had been by Mrs. Weasley. The twins dragged her over to Remus and bowed dramatically to him before walking to their mother.

"What was that about, Cubette?" Remus muttered as he hugged her close.

"Oh, well, you know, they know who you two are now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sirius said, having released Harry and sent him over to the Weasley's.

"It means they know you're the infamous creator of the Marauder's map."

They both laughed and engulfed her in another hug, looking at each other over her head. They knew that that wasn't the only reason the twins had presented their girl in such a manner. They both withheld sighs and instantly aged another ten years. It appeared that it was time to have the talk with their little Rosebud.

"So, what's the surprise you guys were talking about?" Rose wondered aloud.

Remus snorted and Sirius glared at him before then both smiled, "Well, pup..." Sirius said slowly as Harry walked over to them.

"Yeah...?" Harry and Rose inquired.

"Well..." Sirius seemed at a loss.

"He's gotten you two a potential godmother," Remus said, not able to keep it a secret.

"What?!" They both yelped.

"Yeah! What Remus said! Don't be upset, she's a kind woman, and she has a passion for reading, like you, Rose, and is amazing at Quidditch, like you, Harry."

"That's not all," prompted Remus, ignoring Sirius's dirty glare.

"We... Uh... Well... It took a lot of work mind you, but we're moving."

Rose grew deathly pale as she stared at the two of them and Harry wrapped his arm around her, glaring at his two guardians, "To where, exactly?"

"The same house! We're just changing it all with magic! No need to panic!" rushed Remus.

Rose and Harry sighed a sigh of relief. Perhaps the summer wouldn't be as terrible as it had appeared to have been fated to be.

* * *

Hey, everyone! SylviaSnape98 here! This is the last chapter of Harry and Rose Potter Book one! I've posted the next one already, so feel free to go at it! Hope you all enjoy the next installment, where you'll discover Sirius's mystery Witch!


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